January 16, 2012

            I have found myself thinking on more than one occasion about the technological wonder we call Face book. I know that it has allowed me to reconnect with people I went to high school (and middle school and grammar school) with that I never thought I would see again.

Unlike many people, I moved from the home and town where I spent my childhood the day after high school graduation. I never went back. I had no idea when I opened my account on Face book that I would soon be “talking” to so many people from that time in my life.

Age and time seem to have eroded the feelings of inadequacy and teenage jealousies from our lives and we seem to have morphed into viable friendship sustaining human beings capable of deep emotions.

Who knew that thirty-five years later we would be looking to each other to offer encouragement on diets, listen to boasting about our grandchildren, and requesting prayers for our loved ones? We share a security in knowing our friends are but a keystroke away; and they are ready to help us celebrate our victories and to sustain us in our tragedies.

I had not had contact with any of my classmates before I found Face book. I am still reconciling the kids I knew in school with the adults I have come to know today. Some married high school sweethearts, some of us made decisions that took us in other directions.

In my mind, I still see the kids we were in high school and I sometimes think, “Would we have been different towards each other then, if we had known the human beings we would someday become?”

Some of us are still the class clowns. Some of us are still the serious students. Some of us are still laid back. I see the cheerleader, the high school quarterback, the chemistry lab geek, the bully, the introvert, the one with the glorious voice, the prettiest one, the most handsome one, the outcast. I see God’s children and I make a toast to Face book for bringing us full circle and back into each other’s lives.

Here’s to friendship! One thing is for certain, we have grown up, and I appreciate the human beings we have become and I look forward to sharing my triumphs, my tragedies, and everything in between with these friends.