Her Facebook note to me said something like, “Hi. I had a best friend named Heather Dugan who lived on Halligan Avenue with her sisters, Stephanie and Suzanne.” She signed it “Colleen” with a last name I didn’t recognize, but I knew exactly who she was. And just like that, I reconnected with the first “best friend” I ever had, Colleen Post.
Our backyards met at a hedge that we must have brushed past hundreds of times running to the back doors of one anothers’ homes. We gathered hickory nuts from the shagbark that grew in her backyard and played all the little games that young girls play. She chased after birds with me, salt shaker in hand, when I’d heard we might catch one if we could just sprinkle salt on its tail. We ran through lawn sprinklers in the summer and built snowmen in the winter. I remember her dog Fluffy and her older brother Greg -and I remember her brother Greg eating some of Fluffy’s dog food on a dare in their basement.
On our first day of kindergarten we rode side by side on the school bus, peeking out the back window occasionally to make sure our mothers were still tailing behind in a station wagon. Not much later, we learned that the Posts would be moving to Sturgis, Michigan. I still remember how foreign and far away that sounded.
It was my first real heartbreak. I remember the day they moved as a rainy miserable afternoon. I leaned into the drapes of our sliding glass door, sobbing, as first the moving truck and then the family car pulled away from the familiar house on Abbott Avenue. Until then, my saddest moments had been tied to toys and bedtimes.
No matter who lived there in subsequent years, it remained “Colleen’s house.”
She lives in Alaska now. I’m still in Ohio, just a short drive north of the neighborhood she moved away from thirty-nine years ago. I’ve moved a few times since then too. But, I always remembered Colleen. It’s nice to know she has remembered me too…
***What’s your “reconnect” story?
I don’t have a reconnect story, but I can assure you that her brother was not the only person in the world to eat dog biscuits on a dare.
Must be some kind of universal impulse in children.
I’ve heard from a girl who I was in school with via a Friends Reunited site, and from a long lost relative via a Genes reunited site. We’ll be meeting the latter for the first time on 26th April.
My Mum still has an annual lunch (their birthdays are only a few days apart so they do it around that time) with her school friend from over 50 years ago. I think that is superb.
Really very nice blog to Read
Your story remind me one of my best friend in elementary school. She left our school since 10 years old.
I know she went to another city far north of China, But never know any information about her.
Hope I can find her online.
LiteralDan: I’ve never had to fight that impulse! I’ll take your word on that…
Graham: That’s terrific! I hadn’t heard of those sites, but it sounds like they work rather well.
Mark (Travel Wonders): How nice that they’ve maintained their connection over the years! I’m sure it has evolved to deeper places than where it once started.
Powerblogger: Thanks very much ~for the kind words and the visit!
iWalk: I hope you find her!! It’s such a different world now. It used to be that you could truly lose people when they moved out of sight. Not so much the case anymore…
What a beautiful post, Heather. We love all the ways you talk about travel and how you help us connect with emotions that touch us all. Thanks!
your stories are like that maintenance so nice. My English is not well enoughnice to write my experiences. I became large with pigs and cows. my riends are everything far away and unfortunately no more contact.
Hey! I have a blog about aviation and tourism. I found you on Blogcatalog and I wonder if we could exchange tips about trips and get linked each other on our blogs. What do you think about it? We could exchange a little banner or just a link.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Best regards,
FA Dan
An absolutely beautiful story. I was just speaking with a friend who asked if I was on facebook. (I’m not – really) He had a similar story. Obviously I’ve been away from blogging for a few days (read weeks). I need to catch up with a few more of your lovely posts. Thanks for this heart-warming story. I missed you!
I don’t have a reconnect story (though, lately, Facebook has been full of people I went to HS with).
However, within the past month or six weeks I was telling someone about chasing after birds with a salt shaker. She’d never heard of the activity nor seen the cartoon (a Loony Tune, maybe) depicting the activity.
I’m happy to know I’m not the only one to ever chase after birds.
Authentic Seacoast Resorts: Thank you. These are the stories that land deepest for me. A lot of our “connections” extend further than we’ll ever know.
Saskia: You never know where some of those far-away friends will pop up again. The internet creates paths to almost any point in our past.
What a great story! Facebook really is an amazing thing. It’s helped me connect with many friends, old and new. Thank you for sharing your story.
Great. Me too. I joined a group from the high school in which I taught, and people have contacted me from all over the country. As I was only 3 years older than some of my first students, it’s really cool to catch up with these 50+ “teenagers.”
Dan: You’ve built a great site. I sent you an e-mail.
Intrepid: Now I’m the one who has gotten a bit behind! ~Loved your “shanghaied” story! It was a thoroughly decent excuse.
Delmer: I am similarly relieved to find I wasn’t the only gullible child to fall for that one. I’m sure our salt flinging leaps were quite entertaining (I was in ballet classes at the time).
Trisha: It’s so-o-o interesting to update the life stories of those who have traveled in alternate directions! It’s gratifying to see that most seem to be quite content and fulfilled in their present day lives.
Wendy: Another great story! High school is one of the final zones in which “three years” can mark such a difference between social circles. Those must have been some interesting years!