Hearing From Old Friend

 I have thought about it over the last couple years but like so many things I have put it off. Yesterday I responded back to a post I saw on social media. The post was from a son of my dad’s business partner. He is the same age as my sister and I have not seen him in many years though we are friends now on FB. I am sure you can figure what this is.

I have to say we have been on FB as friends for about a year. We haven’t said a lot to each other but I see what he is up to these days being a real estate agent and is married. I thought very good on both because I am sure he is really good at being an agent and he was single for a long time.

Anyway I asked him how his older sister and younger brother were doing. Also, I said we should get together in person and catch up since it has been many years. In some ways his family and ours were like a second family. At one point or another we all worked in the family business so knew them quite well. I worked with his brother as installers the summer before my senior year of high school. He was doing the job so he could afford to go to dental school. He ended up being a dentist up in the Bellingham, Washington area. In fact he was a very good dentist. A few years after high school I worked in the business for twelve years before it was sold; I worked with him and sister for a couple years while my dad was recovering from a heart attack and their father had died a few years before.

He posted back to me giving me the bad news first that his sister had died of cancer ten years ago and his brother died last year of Parkinson’s. The good news was that he wanted us to get together. Hearing the news about his sister and brother brought tears to my eyes and the memories we shared. I am sure when we get together we will have a lot of laughs because that is how our relationship was most of the time. I am sure glad that he is still around to talk too.

This tells me how important it is for us to get back in touch with those we have lost contact with in the past. I know that there are others that I haven’t seen or talked to for a long time and it is so important to rekindle those old relationships. We have no idea how much time any of us left on this planet so we take advantage of getting together even if it only once in a while. Another great thing about social media and email is that we can keep in contact with those that are not close in distance. The thing is even those that are close in distance we often don’t keep in contact with either. So I am going to make a list of those who I want to get back into contact with. I look forward to the day I see him and others that I have lost contact with. I will have a nice smile on my face.