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Old friends new

I drank coffee with an old friend this morning -- someone I haven't seen since around June of 1993 when we graduated from high school. We hooked up on Facebook a few months ago, and I'm so glad we did. She's smart and fun and kind -- always has been -- in fact, she was one of the two girls who befriended me immediately when we moved to my new school at the start of seventh grade. (I know...you and I both shudder at the thought of starting new school in 7th grade!)

Friday I spent an hour chatting online with another high school friend who I hadn't spoken to in over 10 years. We chatted easily, laughed about shared memories, gushed about our spouses, even talked abut mundane daily stuff like what books we're reading and music we're listening to. He revealed some interesting, truthful impressions of me in high school that made me simultaneously smile and cringe. There are a couple other friends I've discovered now live right down the road and have kids the same age as mine; others who now live in faraway states and countries and have fabulous careers.

I could go on and on about my recently rekindled Facebook relationships -- friends from as far back as kindergarten have appeared and I love getting to know them again. What strikes me most about these reconnections is that although I liked these people as their 16-year-old selves, they're really so much more interesting now. It sounds obvious and ridiculous, but really, we're all full-fledged people -- no longer masses of hormones and emotions centered on who likes whom or stressing about how long to study for Friday's test. We've all been shaped much more by the post-high-school years, and we all carry our own scars, large and small. We deal with similar challenges; we have similar humor and hopes.

Not many of us are where we pictured ourselves way back then, but I get the impression we all like our now selves much more. What I love most is that we're all reconnecting in the present -- not sitting around waxing nostalgic about the good old days. But it's really nice to have roots.
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