Old Friends

Every once in awhile, I get a hankering to try and track down my old friends from days gone by. Now, please keep in mind that the "Friends" characters in the photo to the left are not the "old friends" I am speaking about as they are simply just an example of what I am speaking about. I could only wish I were that popular... then again... maybe not.

I have memories of friends from my old high school, my old church youth group not to mention from my old university days in the state of Tennessee. Now if this were before the advent of sites such as Google (Go Google!), the chances of me tracking down these authors of my old memories would have been an exercise in futility.

So... Yesterday, instead of banging on my drum, I was perusing through Google plus other avenues in search of an old youth pastor of mine, and old really good female friend from university as well as a couple of male buddies from university as well. Please keep in mind that the term "old" was used to describe not the people involved but instead the fact that they were associated with me many moons ago and so "yep," a few misplaced modifiers there!

I chose these individuals to search because of what they meant to me over the years. Dean, my youth pastor back in the seventies was someone I looked up to. He never made us feel that we were ever a burden to him or just a job that he was being paid to do. He loved being around us and it showed. I can't really recall any specific experiences with him and our youth group but I will never forget him simply because he made me feel important to him.

Kelly, my friend in university was someone who accepted me and loved me for who I was. We were never in a relationship but quite simply... we were "buds." Randy, Larry and David were three compadres who, though were much older than I, were guys who didn't choose their friends based on their age or status. Randy and Larry were two bosses of mine while David was a co-worker.

So far, I have tracked down two of them. My former youth pastor is now pastoring a church in the state of New York while Kelly is a physiotherapist in the state of New Mexico. David got back to me to inform me that he was not the "David" that I was looking for. Hopefully Randy and Larry will resurface as well.

So... Why do I go back in time and try to renew old acquaintances? I am not really sure other than the fact that I really appreciated them back then and maybe, just maybe, they could do with a friendly face every once in awhile letting them know that they were and still are appreciated. I know that when someone from my past makes contact, I appreciate it!