Finding Old Friends
The last couple of years I've been trying to find old friends. Even with Google and Facebook our past women friends can be hard to find with the name changes women go through. When I divorced I changed my last name to a family name and not my maiden name, and I have kept it ever since. I saw a suggestion that you look for the parents of your friends and give them a call but at my age most of those parents are gone, but not all.
I did find one dear friend by searching the Internet. I knew she was in Hawaii. Along the way I met a new friend with the same name, also involved in education, now how funny is that? The second woman actually knew of my friend.
We moved a lot and grade school friends were few and very hard to find again. The friend that continues to elude me is Patty from 5 through 8th grades. My constantly moving family actually stayed in one place for 3 1/2 years and she was my best friend. Alas, she and her family seemed to have disappeared. I found another classmate from that time, Mary Ann who lived up the road and walked to school with us. That was from an article in the Oregonian about Mary Ann's mother who had turned 95 and the party they had for her.
After starting and leaving two high schools, I got to stay in one school for the last two years and graduated with two friends, Cathy and Naomi, who found me after I signed up for the alum association. The alum paper provides news about people by class year and lists those who have passed on. I was shocked to find many of the girls I knew had not made it to retirement age. I also discovered my first love and prom date had died at 60 of a heart attack. Harbinger of things to come I suppose.
Here's the happy ending. My friend Cathy lives about four hours from me. We finished high school together and started college together. I've visited her in Seattle and we've picked up kind of where we left off after a separation of 30 years. She has a daughter about the age of my youngest sister and the four of us are going to vacation together this summer in Alaska. I am really excited about this happening. Naomi has moved from Hawaii to Texas and has invited me to visit. I've never seen Texas and I'd love to see her. She was in Seattle for awhile but an illness kept me home and we missed that opportunity. This makes me grateful for the Internet, the easy exchange of pictures and email. Now if I can just find Patty.
I did find one dear friend by searching the Internet. I knew she was in Hawaii. Along the way I met a new friend with the same name, also involved in education, now how funny is that? The second woman actually knew of my friend.
We moved a lot and grade school friends were few and very hard to find again. The friend that continues to elude me is Patty from 5 through 8th grades. My constantly moving family actually stayed in one place for 3 1/2 years and she was my best friend. Alas, she and her family seemed to have disappeared. I found another classmate from that time, Mary Ann who lived up the road and walked to school with us. That was from an article in the Oregonian about Mary Ann's mother who had turned 95 and the party they had for her.
After starting and leaving two high schools, I got to stay in one school for the last two years and graduated with two friends, Cathy and Naomi, who found me after I signed up for the alum association. The alum paper provides news about people by class year and lists those who have passed on. I was shocked to find many of the girls I knew had not made it to retirement age. I also discovered my first love and prom date had died at 60 of a heart attack. Harbinger of things to come I suppose.
Here's the happy ending. My friend Cathy lives about four hours from me. We finished high school together and started college together. I've visited her in Seattle and we've picked up kind of where we left off after a separation of 30 years. She has a daughter about the age of my youngest sister and the four of us are going to vacation together this summer in Alaska. I am really excited about this happening. Naomi has moved from Hawaii to Texas and has invited me to visit. I've never seen Texas and I'd love to see her. She was in Seattle for awhile but an illness kept me home and we missed that opportunity. This makes me grateful for the Internet, the easy exchange of pictures and email. Now if I can just find Patty.
Labels: old friends
posted by Celia | May 03, 2011
3 Comments:
I know where most of my college friends are, but I have no idea where the most important gradeschool friends are now....Patty and Caroline. Most of my high school friends meet once a year Not this year, darn it. But I miss them and am grateful I have made new friends.
I agree. The internet and Facebook specifically have helped me find many old friend.
As much as I don't check my FB acct, I've still connected with a few friends from the Ol days. We moved a couple of times when I was in school, eons ago, and I lost touch with most of my classmates.
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