3 of 210 : Ella

My great-grandmother’s singular hope was that I’d be on The Lawrence Welk Show someday. She didn’t know if I’d be singing, dancing, or playing the piano, but she thought I’d be a huge hit. She died two months shy of her 101st birthday. Lawrence Welk died three years later, alas.

2 of 210 : Cynthia

Third grade: I put on my best suit, she wore white, I gave her a ring, and we had a lovely little wedding ceremony. We grew apart after a couple of months; within a year we barely spoke to one another. She was no longer the girl I had married.

1 of 210 : David

We lived in the Caribbean, and he looked like a young Mick Jagger. The friendship was never entirely satisfying, but the sex was intoxicating. We were fourteen. I saw him last in Chicago, where he had joined yet another religious cult. Heard he stole the cult's only truck, then disappeared.