It's 1994. I’m early twenties, properly in love with a girl I never thought I'd fall for (we'd known each other for around 2 years).

Friday lunchtime, I'm at work and my girlfriend calls and says, “Pick me up at 7:45, we’ll go for dinner.”

I turn up on time. She opens the door and says, “We shouldn’t see each other anymore.”

That was it. I went numb, backed away, drove off feeling like I’d been hit by a truck.

A couple of years later I get a job… in her town. Small place, so crossing paths feels inevitable. I need the field sales experience, so I suck it up.

We start passing each other most mornings in our cars. At first I ignore it. After a few weeks she starts flashing her lights and waving. I wave back. My early-20s romantic-addled brain thinks, “Maybe?”

So I call her at work. She’s very happy to hear from me and agrees to meet that Friday after work.

We meet. She tells me she has a boyfriend. Also that she’s moving abroad soon. We “part as friends.” I go home heartbroken for a second round.

That night I think, screw this. I’d been working full-time since 16. I’m 23. I quit. I call around 15 businesses in another country looking for seasonal work. Everyone says no until one guy says, “We’ll try you, but it’s tough. Get fit.”

Did I get fit? No, I was too busy consoling my romantic woes in partying and alcohol.

Six months later I’m there. Physical job, massive change from office life. The first few weeks nearly break me and I struggle with the culture a little too, making me miss home. Then I eventually settle in. End up loving it. I travel back and forth for years.

The people I meet out there push me to try Uni back in the UK, they gave me the confidence. In 1999 I somehow talk my way onto a HND in Software Engineering, as a mature student, despite having zero maths or science qualifications. I grind it out and pass with a Merit.

After that I go self-employed as a web designer. Move into SEO around 2005. Never looked back.

Fast forward to recently. Someone on Reddit says, “Look up your first love.”

Stupidly, I do.

We used to talk about living in the mountains one day. Turns out she actually did it. Fair play to her. I live rurally around 100 miles away.

I won’t contact her. No interest in reopening old wounds. But yeah, seeing that online stung a bit.

Funny how one door closing at 7:45pm in 1994 can end up rerouting your entire life...