Reconnecting with the past

Are you on Facebook? I know I spend far too much time on Facebook. I'm a fan. It's nice to be able to see and read what your friends are up to. It's another way of staying connected. I get to see when Tyler gets his first hair cut or when my my great niece Abbi is modeling a new hat.
I know that my future grandchild is kicking my daughter a lot tonight... this makes me happy cause lord knows she got me a lot.

I don't do Farmville or Mafia Wars. Don't care that you got more smiles than the rest of your friends.

I do like reconnecting with old friends I haven't seen in many years. Mostly it's harmless. It's funny to see pictures of people you went to high school with. In my mind they look the same as they did then....young. They were 18 when I last saw them and now they are in their 50's. Most of them are grandparents when we couldn't even imagine ourselves as parents. It's cool to catch up on what they are doing now. A couple of guys I went to school with make a living chartering fishing boats. Taking tourists out to the best fishing spots. One of them is down in the keys, one just north of me in Titusville. One of the girls I went to school with lives right on the water in the keys. She shows pics of the Stone Crabs they bring in. They live interesting lives. We exchange stories of the old days. Catch up on who's doing what now.

Some of them look very much like they used to. Some of them, especially the ones I'd thought I'd know anywhere ~ look so different that I wouldn't know them if I bumped into them on the street. One in particular was a real cutie pie back in the day ~ not so much anymore. Some of the ones that weren't much to look at back then, really aged well. The geeks ~ not so much anymore. I've had the chance to apologize for slights I thought I made back then only to find there was no slight. Crushes I never knew about. Crushes they never knew about. It's all good now.

I once "connected" with an old friend from Jr. High (yes, it was NOT middle school back then). She and I were the best of friends and thought we would be forever. We talked a few times on the phone. I quickly realized that I had changed. I had grown up and matured. She had the same mentality she did back in middle school. I had grown up from thinking it was cool to be a bad ass ~ cussing just cause we could. She didn't. Don't get me wrong, I'm no prude and when needed, can make a sailor blush ~ but it's not my everyday language. I had also forgotten how prejudiced she could be. The "N" word is not in my vocabulary. For her it was in every sentence. She wanted to come up for a visit ~ I panicked and went to see her instead. It was awful. It made me realize that sometimes the past should stay in the past.

Which brings me to the present ... today I reconnected with a friend from high school. We were the very best of friends. We went everywhere together. We took most classes together. We double dated ~ we spent every weekend together. We stayed in touch after high school. I went to her wedding (well, the first one!). I even got her an interview, which led to a job at the company that I worked at. It was then that we no longer talked. She was in the personnel dept. I was in purchasing. Really right across the hall yet we barely spoke. I guess I was busy in my life and turns out she was going through a lot in her life. We just disconnected.

I changed to the shipping department which moved to another location. I ran into her one more time. Seems she had gotten divorced and married a guy from another department that I worked with. The last time I saw her, she had brought the baby to the office to see her husband who I just happen to have a meeting with at the time. It was odd, we were like strangers. Really not much to say. I've looked for her on line many times since then. Just curious as to what she was up to. Today I found her on Facebook. I had been looking her up by her maiden name ~ she was listed with her current name ~ but I recognized her immediately... sent a message and she answered right away.

We've sent several long messages over the course of the day ~ with promises to be in touch more tomorrow. She's now single after three marriages with 4 kids(mostly grown)and a grandchild. She's still doing personnel work for the city she lives in. I'm divorced, remarried with 3 of my own. I'm no longer doing office work. I quilt and sew. She rides a Harley for fun.

I think it'll be okay though. I think we've both grown up. It'll be interesting to see where her life has taken her. I'm not saying we'll be inseparable again but can you ever have too many friends? I think it's worth the chance. Do you?