to email out of the blue after 10 years??

[emelsie]

Long story short, I came across the email address of a teenage romance/friend in an old diary I found in the attic of my childhood home, it was all very young and innocent , but we were very close in the years we did know each other, it was a fun carefree time in my life, the memories made me smile.
I sent a email to the address, maybe I should never have done, is this crazy?
To my surprise he replied! I honestly thought there was no way he would still use it, but he was very blunt , 'Yes this is (his name)' and 'how can I help' , on confirming he did remember who I was and asking how he was he responded again 'how can I help' and 'yes I am good' .

I don't really know what answer I want from here, just feel a bit silly for even sending an email, its not something I have ever done before, was just having a bit of a 'why not' moment I suppose, maybe it was a error of judgement on my part.

[katemess12]

Bit of a weird response from him, but I also wouldn't have emailed someone out of the blue after 10 years, so. I'd probably just leave it and not respond.

[TheWitTank]

I would just leave it. He clearly is a bit puzzled at your interest after such a long time!

[AndShesGone]

How old are you? 10 years isn't very long at all. Maybe he thinks you haven't 'got over him' or some such nonsense

[KatieScarlett]

I would just tell him what happened and pass it off as whimsy. Better that than having him imagine you have been thinking about him for 10 years

[JessieMcJessie]

"How can I help?" is an odd thing to say. How exactly did you phrase your initial email to him?

I don't think that emailing after 10 years is all that odd- people reconnect all the time these days after similar intervals via Facebook etc.

Even if he wanted to keep his distance I'd have expected a polite response along the lines of "Nice to hear from you, yes I'm well, married Jenny in 2011 and we have 2 little boys now. Glad to hear you're well and happy, all the very best".

[emelsie]

Yes think will just write it off as a silly mistake, (Im 26), the last email I sent after his 'how can I help you' was very brief and to the point explaining that his email was a very random find was only a passing 'I wonder how he is doing' thought I had and not to worry, his reply was ' Its not a big issue but not sure we are ever likely to be friends'
That was not my intention either but I will just leave the conversation there before I feel more stupid trying to explain myself to him.

[KatieScarlett]

He sounds like a bit of a dick.
I would agree with his last statement, enthusiastically.

[JessieMcJessie]

Leave it. He sounds like a twat.

[WhatsGoingOnEh]

Ooh, you broke his heart by the sounds of it.

[george1020]

It's a shame you had to find out how much of a twat he has grown into, but I would worry another second about him or his piss poor people skills.

[PotatoBread]

His reply sounds rather odd. Just delete and forget you ever sent it.

[Crisscrosscranky]

At 26 he could be married with a family and not interested in a friendship with you - you were teenage crushes at 16; very unlikely to anything in common other than the fact you had raging hormones at the same time a decade ago.

I can imagine a thread "my DH has been emailing his old teenage girlfriend" with a chorus of LTB following!

[KatieScarlett]

I have a few of my exes on FB
All are married with kids as am I.
Every convo has been "politely interested in how our lives panned out."
We occasionally like a cute pic of our kids or pets.
That's normal. Acting as if you've offended by daring to send an email after 10 years is weird.

[emelsie]

I don't recall things ending badly , just kind of lost touch , uni and life happened.
I wasn't interested in friendship anyway, maybe a brief few sentences on how life had been treating him , but then maybe it hasn't been easy for him and it was an unwelcome or bad timed reminder, who knows , thank you all for your replies , don't feel as silly now and lucky for me that was the only box of keepsakes left to sort, so will not be doing that again in a hurry

[KatieScarlett]

He probably cries into his pillow every night, there might even be poetry...

[Catsize]

Think you had a lucky escape there OP!

[danadas]

He may have a very jealous OH and be keeping the emails very bland and blunt so their partner absolutely cannot read anything into it!!

[powershowerforanhour]

Could be

• yes he was heartbroken
  
• he's married and wanted to leave a bare minimum paper trail of emails that could not possibly be misconstrued by anyone who found them
  

-he's afraid your next email was going to be "Guess what- your DC that I never told you about was 10 yesterday and wants to meet you"

• he's gay and has a new life and doesn't want anyone from the old life in it
  
• he has been burned by other people in the past 10 years, ultra guarded/ paranoid as a result and thinks you're after money somehow or are going to turn into a stalker.
  

Anyway, I would just leave it.

[Italiangreyhound]

His response is odd. How can I help? Tempted to say, do you fix gutterings!

You did not need anything you were just touching base.

My guess is he is in a new relationship/newly married or whatever. Or you meant more to him than you knew, or he worries that he meant more to you!

Anyway, it was a perfectly natural thing to do.

[TheLastHeatwave]

Maybe it wasn't actually him replying but a gf or wife?

[katemess12]

Yeah, he sounds like a nobscrot.