Facebook and How it Helped Reunite Old Friends

Many people seem a bit ashamed that they use Facebook to reconnect with friends from their past, and some who don't Facebook express a bit of disdain at the idea of wanting to connect with people from decades gone by. However, I am not one of them. I love getting back in touch and maintaining or refreshing friendships and making new acquaintances through this social media site. (Clarification-- by making new acquaintances I do not mean total strangers-- I mean using it as a vessel by which communication is increased with people I know (or have known) but not particularly in any depth--this would include people from church, the community and even some girls who lived in my dorm during college).

In particular, I have wondered over the years about a particular friend from high school (that would mean last seen 17 years ago). We were in band together, participated in the same events each track season and maintained a casual friendship. We didn't hang out after school or weekends or anything, but I did consider her one of my better friends. When I found her on Facebook I was so happy to learn that life had been good to her over the last few years and that she had beautiful children and a good husband. We have talked via Facebook for a year and a half, beginning to fill in the past decades snippet by snippet. This past week I had the opportunity to catch up with her at the county fair in our hometown (I was taking my 5 year old to visit Grandma for a few days). I anticipated a bit of awkwardness and was very afraid that too much time would have passed and she would be disappointed with the person I had become. I almost gave up, but decided to stay -- turns out I wish I could have stayed longer. It was good to laugh at the magicians and enjoy our little girls together. I wish I could have stayed longer. There was a bump in the schedule for the next day and since she had said that her husband would be bringing the girls again then, I contacted her after I got home and asked if they might be willing to meet up with my daughter and go on the bumper cars together. Turns out she actually brought her daughters and not only took my child on the bumper cars (6x) but also visited animals with her & otherwise made it an enjoyable last day at the fair. I am glad that my child has a new long distance friend. I hope very much that it will not be another 17 years before I get to enjoy the company of my friend again.