Long Lost Friends

The other day I accidentally sent a friend request on Facebook.  What I was trying to do was share a picture that someone had posted with one of my friends.  As soon as I clicked, I knew I was in trouble.  Holding down the mouse, hoping that if I didn’t release it, it wouldn’t actually send, I desperately searched in vain for an option to undo.  So, random person? I don’t really want to be your friend, I’m just Facebook incompetent and you should refuse my request. 

Have you ever tried to find people from your past on Facebook?  People you’ve lost touch with over the years?  My best friend in second grade was Theresa Blankenbaker.  I barely remember her, but I remember her name.  Unfortunately, I don’t remember if it was Theresa or Teresa.  In seventh grade it was Terri Shinabery.  Or was it Terry?  Or Shinaberry?  Why did I throw away all my old year books during one of my purging frenzies?! 

Since we were a military family, a lot of people have gone in and out of my life and I often wonder what happened to them. There was Sally Baker in Virginia, whose kids were the same ages as mine and Rita Reiman (or Reimann?) with four beautiful girls in Stuttgart, Germany.  Also in Germany, Linda Rice, mom to Matthew who was the same age as Ben and Maddie, who was the same age as Joel.  We scoured the countryside, going to museums, cuckoo clock factories, and other places of interest in the Black Forest.  I know it seemed like I was trying to kill you that one time when I was driving the giant Ford Fairmont and slammed on the brakes when your sun visor was at eye level, but it was just a little mishap, hopefully you don’t hold that against me.  Also from Germany, Uschi Dennis, who cut my hair AND gave me great advice. 

Occasionally I do find someone, the spelling of whose first and last name I actually remember, and I check out their pictures and profiles, at least as much as they share with people who aren’t their friends.  This is not cyberstalking, right?  Part of me wants to send that friend request, but the other part of me doesn’t know if there would be anything to talk about after all these years once we got past the “so, what have you been up to for the last twenty or thirty (or forty!) years?” 

Are people only supposed to be in our lives for a season?  Has the transient nature of our modern lives made lifelong friendships impossible?  Have you reconnected with old friends on Facebook?  Were you able to pick up where you left off?  Or have you regretted clicking that friend request?  Please let me know by leaving a comment.

One thought on “Long Lost Friends

  1. I love cyberstalking. I love reconnecting with people and finding out how much alike we really are when we thought we were from two different worlds. I don’t enjoy finding out people are not very nice, but I can’t pick the qualities I like about a friend I have to take the whole friend.

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