From Marianne: I Still Have My AOL Email Address 📧

When Jeremy Allen White recently admitted on Jimmy Kimmel that he still uses the AOL email address he created when he was 12 or 13, and it's his only one, I laughed out loud. His agent had apparently told him it was embarrassing to hand out an AOL address during important meetings. Jeremy's response? "I just need to get through this period and someday it'll be charming."

I completely understand. I still have my AOL email address, and I've also gotten the look. "Oh... AOL? OK, Boomer." It's not even my main email anymore. I have several much cooler, more professional addresses. But I can't bring myself to get rid of the original. It was my first.

I remember agonizing over what to call myself. Should I be clever, funny, sophisticated? Well, what I picked somehow stuck. A few people even started calling me, in real life, by that made-up AOL name. One relative still does.

Every time I type it, it reminds me of an entirely different world, before smartphones and Wi-Fi. Back when getting online meant listening to that modem dialing in, all that screeching and then hearing those three words:

You've got mail.

My old AOL account has now been demoted. It's where my subscriptions, ads and junk mail go. You know what? It's a pretty great system.

Jeremy was right. It’s not embarrassing. It’s vintage.