Ahh, the magic of technology and social networking. Who knew that using the popular technology of today would take me back down memory lane to a time before cell phones, computers and iPods, but that is exactly what has happened. In the last few weeks, my childhood, teenage years and college life have come back to visit me and all I had to do was click "accept".
I have reconnected with people that I have known since I was 4 years old, but probably have not seen or spoken to in 20 years or possibly more. One of my connections, Joe, I've known forever. I'm not sure if he remembers or not, but we walked to kindergarten together, while our moms followed behind, excited about our day ahead at school. We would see our crossing guard, Mrs. Peach every day. Sometimes after school, I would go to Joe's house and we would watch cartoons. We sat next to each other in 1st grade in Miss Tiglemann's class. Now we are all grown up, with kids of our own. Joe is an "older parent" like me. His daughter is 3. Coincidentally, my husband and his brother went to school together. Small world. Facebook is making it even smaller.
Another recent connection is my friend Gregg. Gregg and his brother and sister lived across the street from us growing up. We spent many a summer day playing baseball or "pickle" in the alley. We traded baseball cards. I was a tomboy back then, mostly because I needed to fit in with the guys in the neighborhood. There weren't too many girls. We would sit on their covered porch and play games and when his mom wasn't within earshot, we tried to teach his 2 year old sister to say "shit". I talked to Gregg on the phone for an hour the other night. Turns out, we've been living within a few miles of each other for several years now. It's surprising we haven't run into each other before now. That's the magic of the internet. You can run into a lot of people on the information super highway that you've completely missed in the hustle and bustle of daily life.
I've also been in touch with 3 girlfriends for the last year or so as well. While I am connected with them on the internet, we made our reunions the old-fashioned way, by phone. All 4 of us will turn 40 this year. Jackie, is in a happy relationship with her boyfriend and enjoying her life. Carrie and her husband adopted a little girl from China over a year ago and are in process of another adoption and my friend Jenny and her husband are expecting a baby this September. They have a 12 year old son and had accepted that another child was not in the cards for them. Life is full of surprises. It sure is. I hadn't been in close contact with any of them over the years--maybe a card at Christmas or one phone call a year--but it's amazing how we still have so much in common. Carrie, Jenny and I are all "older moms". I know they say they are out there, but before now, really didn't know any.
They say you find happiness in unexpected places. By reconnecting with old friends, I've realized that even though many years have gone by, we still have the common interests, memories and values that brought us all together in the first place. That makes my day brighter and my soul happy. Thanks Facebook for making everything old, new again.
