With apologies to Jane Austen...

...it is a fact universally acknowledged that if you have a profile on Facebook, some asshat from your past will find a way to find you.

It happened to me this morning. I was contacted (at 2am, no less) by a guy I hadn't seen, heard, or thought of since we split almost fifteen years ago. It didn't end well---we were engaged, but by the time I was getting ready to graduate from college, I was also getting tired of his mind-games and his jealousy and control issues. Finally, we had a huge fight while I was driving and he hit me once, hard, in the throat.

And I left him. I should have left him bleeding on the side of the road, but I was younger then and I thought I still loved him. But I did leave him, and many times since, I've thanked [insert deity of your choice here] for that decision.

I'm not scared of him anymore. He's welcome to whatever life he has, provided he has it far from me and my family. I will confess that there was a part of me that stopped breathing when I saw his email in my in-box, along with the stupid-ass message of, "I think we used to know each other." Really? You think, you jackass?

And I still don't know how he found me on Facebook. I use my husband's last name on Facebook (my "real" name is hyphenated, but since both names are unusual, I figure it's better if I'm not too easy to find.) And I've got my settings set pretty high---people who want to contact me have to email me first to ask for permission. If I respond, they can see my profile...but I didn't respond to his email. I just blocked the son of a bitch. Let him wonder why he can't see me anymore, or why I didn't respond.

And please, let him stay gone.