One Less Person To Miss

I just have to tell you.  I am having another love affair.  With FACEBOOK!  I wrote a post last year about Facebook and how I feel about it, has not changed.  It is a place I visit to have fun - catch up with friends, express myself, catch a giggle or two (sometimes a belly laugh), discover new books, music and most importantly - to connect.

Now, amongst my 194 Facebook friends (like --- aren't I so POPULAR?!) I am friends with about 15 people I went to high school with and maybe 6-7 I went to college with.  Each "friend" discovery was a joyful one.  But Sunday evening, during a moment of boredom lull in the Superbowl game I was half watching, I checked my email on my iphone and got a HUGE dose of JOY.  There was a Facebook email from a woman girl I went to high school with, who I absolutely loved being friends with but hadn't seen since the days leading up to high school graduation over 35 years ago.  I experienced a surreal BURST of JOY.  I couldn't believe it.

I immediately emailed her back, became Facebook friends and we caught each other up as quick as we could.  In the days following, I was transported back to high school several times.  I felt her presence from deep inside me and continued to catch little butterfly flutters of joy each time I thought about our re-connection and possible planned reunion.

As I was writing this blog post and found myself describing the last time I saw her - "...but hadn't seen since the days leading up to high school graduation over 35 years ago.", I experience a wee bit of sadness. Why do we do things like that?  Why is it when we are young (especially), we spend months, years even a decade or more with people we call our friends and then casually let them slip away.  I mean, I know I consciously didn't end my friendship with my girlfriend, Rodney.  I just moved on - without her...and I don't think I even gave it a second thought - till now.

Anyway -  the joy wasn't just in re-connecting.  I've re-connected with many people from my past and caught little split seconds of joy about finding them again and having a little window into their lives.  The real joy was that re-connecting with her touched me so deeply.  I actually realized something.

I had missed her all these 35 years.

And where there should have been sadness at that realization?  Actually - there was more Joy than I can describe.  Why?  You ask?

Because I don't have to move on without her again.  Even if we don't revive the friendship to that old level of two teenage girls getting through high school together, I'm ok.  Because she's on Facebook!  And we are friends again!

I will "see" you soon Rod!  So glad we are back together again! ♥♥♥