Memories of long ago

Cool! I just found my best friend from high school on Facebook. I haven't talked to her in a long time. Now, I have to explain how cool this is. You see, I'm old. There aren't a LOT of people my age on Facebook. When I signed on, I didn't expect to find my classmates there, I expected to find my younger friends, because they're supposed to be so much more computer-savvy. I was right.

All of my life statistics reduce the probability of me finding my old friends on Facebook. 1. My age, 2. I came from a class with a limited number of people (116). When I began looking for friends from my class (and those right around it) on Facebook, I found 3 that had graduated in 1977 (and yes, I understand that many of your were born long after that year). I had known them, but not well, so I waited.

For some reason or other, I checked again the other day - and there she was! I see pictures of her kids - all grown up, one of her nieces got married - that freaked me out (we're much too young for that to happen - right? nope). Her sisters that I knew well because of all the time I spent at her house and her mom. Oh. It's a good thing.

This is the girl I got into trouble with, I explored great music with, we drove around town for hours in the evenings in her car back when gas was a nonissue. Four of us would pile in her car - pitch in 50 cents each for gas and drive all night. Sigourney had a square. The courthouse was in the center and stores ringed the outside of the square. All of the kids spent their evenings circling that square in their cars. Sometimes we'd pull into parking spaces and chat, sometimes we'd go into the pizza place for supper, sometimes we'd make the full loop of the town - out the mile-away to the gravel road, back into the high school, down Pleasant Valley - out to the swimming pool - but we'd always end up back on the square.

She is the one that I skipped school with. It was senior year - second semester. Gym was last period and we hated gym class - so we left. We went to her house (her mom worked, mine didn't) and went up to her attic room and listened to music. I fell in love with Manhattan Transfer because of her. Then the day came that mom was pounding on her front door. She had a beautiful oval glass panel in the door and I could see mom's fury coursing through that door. We were caught. The gym teacher threatened to flunk me so I couldn't graduate, but the principal and I made a deal - absolutely no more absences from gym class and I would pass. The only 'D' slip I ever got was from that semester.

We haven't had much chance to talk on Facebook yet, but I certainly am thrilled to see her face again! And at my age, it's nice to bring back memories of younger years!