Old friends, time passed

I've had a bunch of those lately. They're all emails, but the same idea. One was with a very close high school friend who I hadn't spoken to in 18 years. She and I have kids who are about the same age, both only children, and it was both incredibly natural and incredibly strange to ease right into talking about them -- our parenting philosophies (and our kids!) are so similar, but when we last talked we were kids ourselves.

There is a well-known band that I've long had on my radar because I knew that one of the guys went to the same school I did and was the same age, so presumably I knew him but I had no memory of him. Since part of his schtick is how he was ignored and bullied in school, I didn't really see a way to contact him -- "Hi, was I one of the people who was mean to you? I don't remember."

But then I looked up the band again for some reason and saw that he and another bandmate met in that same school, and when I saw that second guy's name a grinning kid face jumped into mental view, and I suddenly realized that I was 98% sure he was a very good friend of mine in 4th and 5th grades. I Googled him and the grown-up pictures I saw seemed like they could well be the guy I was thinking of -- hard to tell for sure. So I just (like yesterday) fired off an email to a work address I found (the band is no longer together, the main guy -- the ignored/ bullied one -- went solo), will be interested in finding out if that's him.

A good friend, who served with me in the Navy, stayed in touch for perhaps eight years. Then, we drifted apart. He became a dentist, living in South Dakota. I stayed near Houston, the great part of the time. About three years ago, I became posessed of a burning desire to renew the friendship. I searched the internet for dentists with his surname, until I found him. A snail mail found him very receptive to the idea, and we now exchange emails on a regular basis. We plan on getting together at least once, before it's too late. There have been superficial changes in us, but, we are still essentially the same guys who palled together back then.

I've been connecting with some old friends (i.e. friends from 30 - 40 years ago) through Facebook.

One of the best was the younger sister of kids I played with when we were 5 - 10 y.o. She was born when we were young teens, so I was off to university before she started kindergarten. She contacted me at Facebook, and it's been very nice catching up with her. I marvelled that she recognized me there.

I've looked up some people but not called them - mainly the guys. The wimmins, we keep in touch, mostly, no big deal.

In the friendship between myself and this girl/woman - that was back when I started out shy wonder, and she was all about herself, and, to my observation over the years, remained so. I grew out of a need of her approval, and learned to speak back. Which is how I remember it ended.

If it comes to mind, no, I don't think she is any kind of troll-y sort, just sentimental at this time. She did mention voices telling her to find me, which - of course - I said - these thoughts are routine for people of our age, and she said, perhaps so.

I have no doubt her interest will dwindle with new knowledge of who I actually am, and I'm circumspect about details. But, I do remember the fun times, the going to a drive in and paying with a sack of pennies, not to be obnoxious, but because that was all we had.

Well, to be bald, I've dropped two point five friends in my life of extensive decades. One was this woman. Another is another story, grasping needy, and I wonder how she is. (Yes, she had therapists). The point five is my business partner, and I am confident we still regard each other with interest but just need a rest already.

I've friends still from when I was ten - so if anything, I'm too friend soft. Just to put some perspective here.