Shelly: Among a long list of mistakes and missed opportunities, I’ll be kicking myself forever about letting you slip away. You were perfect in mind and body, and we clicked on a level that I had never clicked with anyone else, and it had the passion of total surprise. We met in an evening calculus class, I was preparing for medical school, and you were doing some kind of engineering thing for the Forestry Service. We were both seeing other people when we met, we just became friends, then we started hanging out a bunch, then it was clear we were really into each other, but then I suffered through a slow and disastrous breakup with my girlfriend and I was out of it for awhile. But I still had your phone number, and I got over my ex, and I heard you had broken it off with your guy, and I called you up. You said, “I’m really busy, but I can see you Friday night.” What an invitation! And I didn’t take you up on it! Stupid, stupid, stupid! I don’t even remember what it was that I had to do that Friday. To make matters worse, I said I’d call you the following week, and I never did! It took me several years and further disasters to realize what a mistake that was. I’m really sorry. I hope you’ve married, have a wonderful career and several beautiful children. I think of you often.

Michelle: I’ve come close to marriage several times, and when I look back, I realize that all of them would have been horrible relationships, doomed to end in messy divorce. Except for you. You were sweet, stable, intelligent, sexy beyond belief, and with true panache. You were ready to move in with me when I left for med school. So why didn’t we get married? I’ve never found an answer; at least we could have given it a try. I’m especially sorry about the last time I saw you, that morning after the night I spent in your apartment, and you made that fabulous breakfast, sausage, eggs, bacon and coffee. And I didn’t touch any of it. That was really rude. I’m a jerk. At least I could have drunk the coffee. Most of your life has been far harder than it should have been, and you deserved much better. I hope you’ve found true love.

Jennifer: The fact is, you broke up with me, but I had been hinting that way myself for weeks. We were both in residency, got along great, had similar interests, talked about everything, never fought, and ended it. Why? Considering the relationships that followed, I would have done much better to stay with you. At least during my five years of surgical residency I would have had something to look forward to, instead of the insanity that took place with the women I dated after you. I hear you’re starting your own practice. I wish you the best.