Have you ever had one of those days when things just weren’t going your way and then out of the blue something totally unexpected happens that completely changes your outlook?  This happrened to me recently and it made me remember how valuable real friends are.

In early July I was in California for the Red Cross wildfire relief effort.  I had been there about a week and as usual it was one day melding into another, up early, home late and that restless, “I’m in a weird place and not my own bed” kind of sleep.  One night just before I went to sleep, I fired up my laptop and was checking email.  I had recently joined a social network for my Alma Mater, Auburn University, called Tiger2Tiger.  It’s like a Facebook for Alum’s, you go on, create an account and look for old friends.  I had found several aquaintances, and it was fun and new.  So, being so far from home, I decided to log on to T2T and see who else I could find.

When I got on I was shocked to see I had a new friend request and it was from an old friend that I had not seen since like 1988 or 1989.  This person was not just any friend, this was someone that had been one of my closest friends ever. Over the years we had drifted apart.  You know how it goes, you graduate, move away, get married, have kids etc…  But I had thought of this friend almost every day and had searched on the internet for information.  I had no luck and I really thought I would never see my friend again.  And now, here it was, right on my screen.  I couldn’t believe it.

So at first I thought it might be kind of weird, not having talked to this person in so long.  But from the first email it was like we had never been apart.  I swear we almost picked up our last conversation right where we left it.  And now it has been about a month and it is so great to be able to call and email like no time has passed at all.  So for all the “evils” the internet has created I have decided that the good seems to out weigh the bad.

I have learned a valuable lesson about friendship and keeping in touch and not just from this incident.   I also had a close friend from college that was diagnosed with cancer about 13 years ago.  I almost lost her too and that was a wake up call for me.  So now I have learned not to get too caught up in my own world and all its drama;  To make sure I am the kind of friend I would like to have; And to always make the time to keep in touch.