I, like most everyone I know, have more email addresses than I can count. Some of them I check daily while others I check every few weeks. So I was checking one of these less-often-used accounts and there was an email with the subject line of just 'Hello' which in general would've immediately relegated it to the trash. But since you never know, I read it - and am I happy I did. It was from one of my oldest friends who I haven't spoken to in at least 7 years. After I left my ex-husband and ran off to California we lost touch and while I'd certainly thought of her many times over the years, I had no way to find her because she was about to get married the last I knew and I couldn't remember what the guy's name was. So apparently she's been looking for me for about a year - she told me she even paid for one of those online searches but it didn't come up with anything. I've moved so many times since 1998 that it really doesn't surprise me. How she found me was by the blurb I'd put in the little booklet that was given out for our 10-year high school reunion (I didn't go but I sent a blurb in). Just to show how much things have changed since '99, here's what it said:


A quick synopsis of the last ten years of my life: I got a BA in Communication with a Minor in Women's Studies from Loyola University Chicago. I got a job at Loyola's Medical School, then got married in 1995. I then left my husband in June of 1997 and moved to San Diego, CA in January of 1998. My divorce will be final in a few months - luckily we had no children. I'm in a number of relationships currently (I'm polyamorous) but that would support children at this time - someday. I'm now working for an internet service company doing customer service. I'm also attending graduate school full-time, pursuing a master's degree in information technology. I do a lot of activist work (speaking engagements, protests, etc) for both the size acceptance movement and the bisexuality movement. The biggest change in me is that I am happy, confident and love to have fun! Enjoy the reunion and feel free to email me at ....

Things are a bit different for my friend L too. She didn't marry the guy she had been planning to but instead has married a man 26 years older than she is. He's 60. O_O They met in line at the DMV, just sort of smiled at one another, and then since he's a cop he ran her license plates and called her at home. Cool story but I'm still a bit weirded out that she's married to a guy the same age as her father. She sounds happy, so really, that's the important thing. They live in the St. Louis area but she comes back here once a month to bring her daughters from her first marriage to visit their father, and the next time she's coming is next weekend, so we've made plans to have lunch next Saturday. I'm excited to see her - we've known each other since we were 2, when my family moved into the house behind hers. It just goes to show that a blast from the past can be a GOOD thing.