Maybe op is beautiful and they live in a small town?

SO!? That is not okay. I don't care what size your town is or how beautiful op is.

That's not grounds for a restraining order, unless she truly fears for her safety. You can't get one on the grounds that someone is creepy. Then half the world would have them.

But you can get one for stalking, and if he's been taking pictures of her without her knowledge for over a decade, he's definitely been stalking her. What he's been doing is incredibly creepy, and the OP is perfectly within her rights to file a restraining order against a guy who has been stalking her for years.

wait a moment people, we don't know how old HE is and if they knew each other or not, all she is saying is that she found out now that he had (and has) a crush on her. Totally different context him being near her age and know her since school, than him being a 40 year old man...

She also said He has been collecting them not taking them. Which may mean like school photo ops or sports photos instead of hiding in the bushes and secretly taking them while she is in the shower. The previous is creepy but kind of sweet. And is not at all like having a tribute of op in his closet made of old bubble gum.

When you say mace do you mean the ball with spikes because I say that's way better the the other mace.

52, that doesn't make it any less creepy. It still means that he went out of his way to find pictures of her and save them. It's not at all sweet. Imagine if a guy had gone out of his way to collect any pictures he could get his hands on of your sister/daughter/niece/cousin/close friend. Would you still try to convince them that is romantic? Would YOU still think that it's romantic? Personally, I'd be pretty freakin alarmed. It doesn't matter how you try to spin it, what he did qualifies as stalking. It's one thing to have a crush on someone, but to go out of your way to get/take pictures of ANYONE for over a decade is ******* creepy. I had a crush on a guy for like 4 years, but I didn't do ANYTHING similar to this. It's weird and obsessive.

I bet the poor guy is just a romantic and has been planning the big reveal for years. He probably built it up as this huge love story in his mind... I don't know, his intentions might have been good. From a general point of view it's creepy, but maybe he's not crazy! I don't remember what movie it was, but there was a similar situation going on, except it was built up to be cute. It wasn't until long after the scene that u had realized that, out of context, it was a little creepy. What I'm saying is the guy might have built it up to be like that movie, not taking the whole picture into perspective.

*I In place of the "u." There are no inner demons within me that would cause me to commit such a felony as typing "u" instead of "you" on purpose.

Whoa! Everyone hold up! What if the photos are like school photos and year book photos? What if he said it to be funny?

I won't necessarily call him a stalker though... An obsessed fan maybe... I stalker might save that shrine info till the very end... Lol

yeah....if he meant any harm.....he had approx 18-20 years to do so.....so just relax OP

Old love never dies.

Yep, at least we know he's not going to leave OP if they ever got married... Lol

And also, not funny.

Indeed very wrong but in a twisted way extremely funny :-D But it doesn't change the creepiness of the situation and the possible danger OP is in - to stay on topic

She does have an impressive shrine though. It might not be so possible to have one like that in real life in a closet though.

I am glad I wasnt the only one thinking about Hey Arnold when I read this.

Loving the Hey Arnold references. :)