Old Friends

[susiestar]

In the last month or so I put a few names into facebook to see if I could find any of my old friends. I found one guy I went to elementary school with, he ALWAYS sat behind me because we ALWAYS sat in alpha order, lol. I wasn't sure it was him, but am glad I posted. We have had someinteresting messages back and forth. he has a nephew with Aspergers who has thrown them all for a real loop. His family was large and while he has only 1 kid, he has a TON of nieces and nephews.

Then I got into touch with a woman who took classes with my father. Somehow she latched on to him as a study buddy and they had several classes together over a couple of semesters. She was pretty cool, and for some reason she LIKED to wash dishes. She lived in the dorm (RA gig helped pay for grad school) and kept some things in our fridge and cooked at our house. Since doing the dishes was MY job, I was ALL for having her come by whenever. Our house was a way to get some down time, and she had some interesting boyfriends. Now she is living in Arizona.

Then I FINALLY found the daughter of one of my parents' friends. When the friends divorced, she and I lost touch. Her parents were REALLY nasty during the divorce and did a lot of out of control things. B had a really hard time back then. We moved away right as the divorce was happening, so when her mom moved unexpectedly B and I lost touch.

She finally put her maiden name on a list for a school and I found her that way.

What old friends have you found recently, or have you been looking for?

 

[Hound dog]

I found the person who was my bff all through school. Seriously, we're talking kindergarden through hs graduation. lol We picked up our friendship like we've never been apart. It's awesome, but then she's always been an awesome person.

 

[Mattsmom277]

I've found a few old friends, rather a lot have found me. Over time I've deleted many off my friends list. I think they were only "old friend collecting" via facebook's novelty, and I figured if we weren't at all communicating I didn't really want my news feed filled with their activities online, nor did I care to share my life for purely voyeuristic purposes.

My one and only fiance (well, ex obviously) found me. I had moved to the US to marry him and we had our first (and only ever) fight not 2 weeks before our wedding was planned, and it ended with us arguing throughout the night and him driving me into NYC to fly home (with wee difficult child) in a fit of anger (on both of our parts). We regretted it by the time we'd both had a good nights sleep. But in my youthful stubborness I figured it was meant to be so no way was I flying back. Now that I have my S/O I figure I was right, it was meant to be. But it was nice to hear from him and we do stay in touch (with S/O always knowing of our contacts). It was nice to hear about his family who were nearly my in-laws. They were so good and kind to me and difficult child at a raw time in my life with my own family etc.

My favorite facebook finds have been: my baby sister (now 12) finding me via FB when I didn't even know that she knew I existed. I've so enjoyed getting to know her and we have grown very close. I've also been "found" by my paternal aunts and grandfather and a cousin, daughter to one of the aunts who I have actually met in person and absolutely adore. She travelled 4-5 hours to meet me for an afternoon and we speak online and by phone regularly. Her daughter and I are much alike, and they are both planning to stop by on a road trip they are taking next weekend together, so I can finally meet my cousin in person. My grandfather is very ill and not computer savvy but does send me the sweetest messages from time to time and always signs off "Love your grand-dad" which makes me all teary and warm inside.

Facebook annoys me at times but it is a wonderful tool for finding those you wish you hadn't lost touch with.

 

[AnnieO]

I've found some people I lost touch with, and many have found me. I find it interesting, especially when I discover a friend from HS was at the same concert I was at last night! She got great pictures. I, however, was too far away - so they're nice to see.

There have been friend requests that were ignored, too...

 

[trinityroyal]

My best facebook find was an old friend from primary school. Our teacher used to call us Giggle and Cackle because we were always whispering and giggling together instead of paying attention to our lesson. She and I were inseparable from nursery school right until Gr. 6, when we all graduated. We went to different schools after that and lost touch. Years later, I worked on a project where her mom was the primary contact for the client organization so we got back in touch and it was as though we'd been apart for a day rather than for 15-odd years. Again we drifted apart, and just recently connected on FB. Funny...our lives are so radically different. If we met today I don't know that we'd even chat with each other, but the old long-standing connection allows us to get past what are really superficial differences, because we remember what we were both like at 3 yrs old, giggling over juice and cookies in JK.

 

[hearts and roses]

Family is spread far and wide so Facebook has been a real money saver in terms keeping in touch.

I've found some old HS friends and some have found me. I enjoy the catching up part but often it fades and then I'm not so interested in the daily goings on of everyones lives. I have deleted a couple who do nothing but post their political beliefs with 8 million links, etc. That gets really annoying. And some I just find so supportive and endearing to keep up with.

Two years ago I went to the wedding of a long time family friend and I'm sitting there people watching and suddenly I see this girl I was best buds with in jr high! We made eye contact and it was like the room was empty except for us, amazing. We caught up all night and shortly thereafter found each other and other friends on Facebook. Very cool!

I will admit that sometimes I need to take breaks from it.

 

[DammitJanet]

I honestly dont know what I think about FB and Myspace. I think I have been more let down by it than most people I read about on here or hear about on TV. Most of my "friends" on FB are the same people I know here. The few I have attempted to connect to outside of this site either never respond to me if I contact them with a comment or an email or they never accept my friend request. I feel sad. We all know how I feel about my daughter in law on that thing! LOL.

I found a guy who was the best friend of one of my really serious boyfriends in HS. I noticed on his list of friends a name that has to be my boyfriend's son. I have looked and looked for my boyfriend online forever...cant find him. I sent this guy an invite or just an email asking him about my boyfriend. No reply. I would just like to know how the guy is. Is he alive? I mean seriously...we are talking over 30 years ago...lol. I dont want him back. Am I that scary? Then my cousins. Once they told me about my dad...no more contact. I mean really? You can just not talk to me? You dont even want to keep in contact with me at all? Fine I guess. I tried. It just hurts so bad. I feel like closing it down. But I dont because just maybe someone will contact me. Its like I keep a lifeline open just in case.

 

[HaoZi]

I've found (and been found) by a number of old school chums, which has mostly been nice. The oddest additions would be my 1st Ex, his 2nd XW, and his now 3rd wife.

 

[gcvmom]

I tracked down a long-lost member of my dad's family and have since "met" his son and daughter in law, as well as his ex-wife who actually called me recently to talk about family.

I've also found old ex-boyfriend's of mine out of curiousity but have made no attempt to contact, lol.

 

[KTMom91]

I have an interesting mix of high school friends/acquaintances, work friends, Warrior Moms, church friends, Miss KT's friends, Husband 1.0, his former wife, Husband 2.0 (aka Useless Boy), his former girlfriend (Miss KT's sorta stepmom M), and friends of friends who play the same addictive games that I do.

I also run Hubby's Facebook page because he refuses to play the games, and feed Miss KT's Petville pet when I remember to.

This is why I get nothing done all day...

 

[DammitJanet]

Did you all hear about the mom who killed her baby by shaking it to death because the baby was bothering her while she was playing Farmville?

 

[HaoZi]

Damn, that one leaves me pretty speechless (okay, not totally, insert bluestreak and dark humor about her not being able to play it at all now and how I'm glad I blocked that app back when it started). I spend too much time on comp and hate interruptions, too, but... damn.

 

[donna723]

We moved from St. Louis to Florida when I was a kid and I've been on Facebook and managed to reconnect with several people I went to school with that I haven't seen since I was eleven years old! One in particular was a girl who was my best friend throughout my childhood and I was so happy to find her again! We've been emailing back and forth ever since. And through her, I've hooked up with several more. It's been 53 years since I've seen these people!

Then after I graduated from high school in Florida, I lost track of virtually everyone I went to school with there. We all went our different ways and then we moved to Tennessee and I didn't think I'd ever hear from any of them again. It's not easy to find anyone because most of the womens last names have changed and everyone has scattered, but then we all managed to find each other on Facebook! There's a page now for our high school and most of them are on there. It's so neat to find out what happened to everyone! These are people that I haven't talked to since I was 18 and now we're sharing pictures of our grandchildren! I've even met up with a few who now live close by! Two of them actually live within an hours drive from where I live now!

Most of my family (my dad's side) still live in St. Louis over 300 miles from me but I can keep in touch with them so much easier now. But there is one cousin on my mom's side that I would love to reconnect with but probably never will. My mom was an only child and we've pretty much lost track of that whole side of the family. We were raised closely with the daughter of one of my mom's cousins and we were constantly together throughout our childhood. We had so much fun and got in to so much trouble together when we were kids! I honestly don't even know if she's still alive - I assume she is, but who knows? I know her first married name but she divorced and remarried and I have no idea what her last name is now. I've searched on Facebook for her two daughters but they've probably married too and have different names - I can't find any of them. I even went on Classmates.com and posted a message on the page for what would have been her high school graduating class but have heard nothing.

 

[Fran]

I have connected with some cousins and other family members that I haven't had contact with in years. I have met up with some grade school and high school friends. I even got an e mail from a cousin in Italy. I don't know him but he knew my family on both mom and dad's side. It was all in Italian. I can make out the fundamental info but had to have it translated. It's nice but...........I'm not wild about facebook at all. I don't really get what to do once you connect with someone. Do they really want to know the details of my day? I don't think so. So once you connect and catch up- what next?
I refuse to play any of the games or get signed up for any sort of groups. I just don't have the time to waste. I think once we get passed the novelty of it, it will settle down to be a way of connecting with long lost friends and family.
I don't find I want to get too hooked in something else. I see my life flying by while I'm on the computer as it is.

I do use it once in a while to give easy child and shock when I post to him at college. He usually remembers to call after that?

 

[Hound dog]

MySpace drove me nuts. Period. I didn't last long on there.

Facebook isn't bad. I'm in constant touch with the kids and we don't even have to pick up a phone. We can share pictures easily that way with family too. I have warrior mom friends, a few hs friends, my childhood bff, some family and friends for the games I play which is now only 1 game.........and since katie has arrived I don't get to it often although I've met some pretty fabulous people from all over the world on that game.

Wow Janet, playing farmville?? Geez it's not like it's a live action game or something........omg Not that that would make it better.........cuz wow, that just blew me out of the water. omg I confess to have grown extremely bored with farmville ages ago. lol My attention span doesn't seem to last overly long with fb games. lol

 

[trinityroyal]

It's nice but...........I'm not wild about facebook at all. I don't really get what to do once you connect with someone. Do they really want to know the details of my day? I don't think so. So once you connect and catch up- what next?

My husband says that to him FB is like those Christmas newsletters people send around, where people talk about what they've been up to all year. That metaphor works for me. I've connected with many of my cousins, aunties and uncles who live too far away to visit regularly. We share pictures, send birthday greetings, tell each other big news...that's about it really. For me it's a way of keeping connected with family when we're all just too busy to stay in contact properly with letters and phone calls.

 

[crazymama30]

Trinity, I agree with you. I do use the chat version to have more in depth and personal conversations with people as well as the message feature. I do like to look at the pics that people post. For me, the friends I used to have will stay that way, especially the ones from high school as I was a major difficult child during that time and many if not most of my friends have not changed and I have. We just do not have much in common anymore, all they do is party.

 

[Marcie Mac]

I have reconnected with some of my childhood friends, some from highschool, a few from here, some local friends, work friends. One of the people I went to highschool with started a page for the graduates from 68, and they all post pictures of where I grew up - wouldn't know the place its changed so much. Some of the political wack jobs from highschool have been deleted, along with peoiple who can't be bothered talking to me cept to ask me to work on their farm or just wanted to be added to see whats going on LOL Don't have any of the kids on -best mom doesn't know whats going on with the two that live here, and the one that doesn't am not interested in all the drama. and no relatives from back east

I was really into the apps when I first joined FB but it got old rather quickly. Its nice to just chit chat at times - working from home leaves me a little isolated.

Marcie

 

[ThreeShadows]

Found two cousins living in France. I keep in touch with a few US cousins, though there are so few of us left. We moved every two years when I was growing up, so no sooner would I make friends I would have to say goodbye. I went to a snooty French high school in NYC where I was, no doubt, the most financially needy. The students were the children of diplomats, the daughter of the Arpels branch of Van Cleef and Arpels, the children of Otto Preminger, the daughter of Bogart and Bacall, you all get the idea. None of my classmates would want to know me now, I'm not famous.

I'm so grateful you here accept me as I am!

 

[susiestar]

I called my old friend tonight. Over the years there have been times I have heard bits and pieces about her, and really worried about some of them. She had to grow up really fast. It was funny, she apologized for the last time we saw each other. It was SOOO long ago, almost 3 decades, and while ditching me wasn't a nice thing to do, I wasn't the nicest kid to be around then anyway. Not when I saw all the dangerous choices she was making. NO need to apologize, but it was really nice that she thought of it. She is a really neat, smart, fun lady. I am amazed at how well she has coped with the difficult children in her life. Her mother has been in her care for way, way to long. Not in her house, but in her guardianship. She also has her paternal Gma that she takes care of, also in a nursing home. But her husband sounds awesome and just right for her, and she has raised a daughter who sounds just wonderful.

I don't understand fb really. Haven't played the games, cannot figure out why I would want to. Not being snotty, I just truly don't "get it". I have contacted other old friends, but only in passing. Mostly I don't give a hoot about what they post about, esp if I don't even know the people. I do like to see some of the pictures of old friends. Esp two young ladies in OH who were daughter's of friends of mine and were good friends of both Wiz and Jess.

I cannot figure out anything that I do that other people would really WANT to know about. Then again, I have seen quite a few of the Criminal Minds type shows where the killer tracked victims through all the stuff they twitter and fb and whatever.

I have gotten a few good freebies from fb, including 4 things of golden oreos. And last year three pints of starbucks ice cream - one for me, one for Jess, and one for husband.