Two tales of reconnection

A couple of weeks ago, I got an e-mail from one of my best friends from high school. He caught me up on his life for the past 10 or 12 years (or however long it's been), and, even better, he gave me a link to his Web site where he's posting pictures from our work together on the high school yearbook. He ended up with a notebook full of negatives and is taking the time to scan them. He found a picture of me from my sophomore year (28 years ago) and posted it. My wife found it amusing.

Anywho...it was good to hear from him. I'm glad he took the time to find me.

 

I don't keep in touch with anyone I went to high school with, though the star QB my senior year sold me my last car. I might see them from time to time when I'm home, but I don't have a single number for any of them in my cell phone.

I only keep up with four or five guys from college, though two of them are my closest friends outside my family. I feel bad about letting so many friendships wither away to nothing, but my life is so much different than theirs, as are most of my interests, that when we used to stay in touch we didn't have much to talk about.

Maybe that doesn't matter, and maybe I should track some of those old friends down.

 

Far better than flame wars... top notch

 

Mine isn't a story about my friend, but it's about my dad and younger sister. I think the only person on here knows this story is sportschick...

Anyway, my parents divorced when I was 3. My dad moved to somewhere up in northern Kentucky for a new job and me and my mom stayed where we still are. From then until I was 6, I saw my dad every weekend. Then he gets re-married, moves to Tennessee and he and his wife have my sister, Bethany. After he moved, I spent every other weekend with my dad.

He, Cheryl, Bethany and Lindsey (my step sister) lived in Tennessee for about 2 years before moving back to Kentucky. They moved to a house about 20 minutes from where I lived and I began spending every weekend with my dad.

That lasted until I was 10. I remember the last Sunday I spent with him he said the same thing he always told me when he dropped me off: "I'll see you next week, son. I love you." That was the last time I would see him for almost 11 years.

Fast forward to my seventh grade year. I get a letter from dad saying how sorry he is and how he wants me to spend time with him again. He gave me his number and I called him up and talked for about 5 minutes before we switched classes that afternoon. Somehow my mom finds the letter and finds out I called him and gets pissed at me. Nothing ever came of that phone call/letter, and that was the last time I would hear from him until December 2005.

One day I got to thinking about Bethany and Lindsey, so I looked up Bethany and found her on MySpace of all places. We started talking online and then we finally started talking on the phone. At first I just wanted to talk to her because I really wasn't sure what I would say to dad. I didn't know if I would lash out at him or be angry or what, but I just knew I didn't want to talk to him for a while.

The first time we talked, Bethany and I were on the phone for almost 5 hours. I think we got off the phone around 4 that morning and she, a freshman in high school, had to be up in 2 hours to get ready for school.

One day I called and dad answered the phone. We wound up talking that night for nearly 3 hours. He told me his side of the story and we patched things up and things now are great.

We don't get to talk near as much because I'm always working until late every night, but I'll sometimes drive to where he works just to see him for a few minutes. My mom and the rest of my family don't know I've been talking to them...and I really don't know how to tell my mom. I just know the kind of reaction I'll get when I do tell her.

 

I moved back to my home town a couple of years ago after being away for many years. One day, totally out of the blue, I ran into an old fraternity brother who was living in my old town who I hadn't seen in almost two decades. He was one of the reasons that I joined the fraternity and eventually quit it once he left.

Anyway, now that I know where he is, we have been emailing each other whenever one of us has plans for a night out. . . which is normally Tuesday. That means at some point today, I will get an email from him letting me know where he and a couple of his buddies will be for wings and beer after work. It has been a blast.

 

I say this in sincerity and not to start a flame war, but this is the type of thing MySpace allows for. I've found a couple old high school friends through it that I otherwise would not have found.

 

I've reconnected with several HS friends on MySpace, the girls from Ohio I lost touch with when I moved away at 15. That's been my favorite part.

 

Several years ago, on a gorgeous summer day, we (hubby, kids and myself) headed to town to do the Target and other shopping run. We got to town (over a half hour drive), I looked at Mr. Rosie and said, "Let's head to (my college town)." Even though it was an hour and a half away, he said, sure, sounds fun, and off we went.

We were at Target there, and were heading to the checkout when I ran into one of my college teammates. There were four of us that were inseparable way back then. I probably hadn't seen her in five years or so.

We stood there in the electronics department for probably a half hour or so, catching up (my kids were getting antsy, so I had to 'shush' them every so often.) Finally, I gave her my email address, told her to keep in touch and off the Rosie clan went.

A couple months later, the day after my birthday, I got a phone call. My friend had passed away suddenly, at the age of 38. With all the confusion and craziness, everyone thought someone else had called me -- which meant no one called me. The funeral was on my birthday.

Very few days go by when I don't think of her -- and kick myself for not keeping in touch better.

 

Lots of love for our pal HB from Canuckistan.

 

What!?
I thought Myspace was just a hunting ground for sex predators to troll for game - in the hopes of traveling over state lines for the express puprose of sexual relations and a possible chance encounter (threesome?) with Stone Phillips?

 

Psst. You should add the blue font. /Homer Simpson-like whispering

 

Fixed