re-connecting with people from your past

[Smurof]

I thought with nothing much to do for a great many of us right now, that would be something enjoyable, to find someone each day to see what he or she is up to. I stopped after person #3.

 

I was thrilled when the website Classmates came along, giving the opportunity to re-connect with people you went to school with. This preceded Facebook. I had a profile on there, but took it down after 2 years, as only 1 person sent a message to me, which thrilled me like you can't imagine. It turned out to be Classmates to remind me of my annual renewal.

 

I started off with my friend from childhood who one day I jokingly tried to drown in his swimming pool when we were playing Marco Polo. Before that day, his parents were good friends with my mother, but that incident ended that friendship as well. I tried to call him in my 20s and that conversation was VERY brief. I sent him a Facebook message earlier this week, and so far it's unread.

 

I then tried to get in touch with a friend of a friend from high school. The friend of mine has deliberately kept his distance from me since catching wind of me talking poorly about him from more than one other person, which understandably confirms to him who the gossip spreader is. The last time I saw my friend in person was nearly 30 years ago, working as a security guard at a music festival. He excused himself when he saw me approaching. He became an amateur bodybuilder since that avoiding incident, but my friend of a friend understandably grew weary of me every few years asking what his friend was up to. Today the friend of a friend is a school principal, and that profession right now is right up there with high stress, so I'm sure I won't hear back.

 

Finally, I tried to re-connect with a guy who self manufactures thong swimwear that I like to patronize. I was really excited to see him as an active forum member on a message board for those who enjoy wearing thongs in public. He lives in Florida, and I'm on the other side of the country, so a real life meet-up was not going to happen. He's still single last I knew. He didn't respond when I sent him a message, but my in-box showed he opened it. Two days later, he did a near whitewash from the board, eliminating his profile entirely, so all entries are blank and read "former forum member".

 

I've spent a lifetime jumping from odd job to odd job as "that guy". I'm no Einstein, but it took the job I currently have to curb my "that guy"-ness (I still am, but not to the point where I feel I really need to get out, although my co-workers would absolutely throw a party if I did the next day).

[Guest]

I've reconnected with old family members, and folks that are just Christmas card recipients.

Amazing.

[+ Charlie]

When a close friend and former colleague died several months ago, I started trying to find former colleagues who I thought might want to know of his passing. Since he retired almost 30 years ago and I retired almost 20 years ago, and both of us then moved far away from where we had lived and worked, I had lost touch with many people. It took a lot of work to find some of the people I was most interested in finding, and many of them turned out to be deceased, too. For the latter, Ancestry.com turned out to be a useful source of information. For the living, Beenverified.com surprisingly turned out to be the most useful.

 

Since my late friend and my spouse have the same first name, one of those I contacted by email sent me a lovely sympathy card and flowers before he realized his mistake.

[+ BlueSky]

I quit Facebook years ago when people from my past I didn't want to hear from got in touch. I don't feel like I missed out on anything.