That's What Friends Are For

Hallelujah! For many months now, I've been searching for a particular childhood friend. Robin and I were the closest of friends in Bayside and, after my family moved to California, we continued to correspond. She visited me in Los Angeles after we moved and I went back to New York to see all my high school friends graduate in 1970. Even after that, we wrote letters and, after I became a librarian, she came to L.A. with her husband and baby girl for a visit.

And then, as it happens, we lost touch. I will take the blame for letting our friendship fade away although we are both probably responsible. Suddenly our lives were filled with work and family and other matters and we just drifted apart.

Through the years I've thought about her and wondered what her life was like. Then a few months ago, I decided it was time to try and reconnect. I did some searching on the Internet and came up with some addresses and phone numbers for people who shared her name. I dithered back and forth...should I mail notes to these individuals in hopes of finding her; should I trying phoning these people or would they think I was a nut or, worse yet, a stalker?

Then last month Lynn suggested we both join a certain social networking website in hopes of locating childhood friends. And, much to my delight, I discovered that Robin too had joined the network in hopes of finding friends from her past. I immediately contacted her and the rest, as they say, is history. We've exchanged long emails detailing the past 25+ years and it's as if we've never been apart. I feel as close to her today as I did so many years ago and I couldn't be happier. Isn't life grand?