Saturday, May 4, 2013

Relationships

The most difficult thing we do in life is to try to relate to another human being in a meaningful way!   Despite our failures at this we sometimes have amazing successes that we did not even know about.   There must be something about growing older that makes me get excited when long ago friends find me!  I remember my mom reuniting with relatives when she was about my age.  She and Dad took a trip to where her more distant relatives were.  She had little contact with them for decades and then took a trip to Missouri to find them.  She absolutely glowed as she talked about seeing them all again.   We only had telephones and snail mail to look people up with back then!  What an amazing feat.

A couple of weeks ago a friend from four decades ago sent me a note on Facebook.  When I saw his name pop up on messages I was immediately drawn to my memories of him.  We took a quick stroll down memory lane as he told me his most prominent memory of me.  It really made me smile because the particular thing he remembered is one that has been committed on throughout my life time.  Okay, I may have made you curious so I will tell you the habit.  I tend to remember one or two lines from quite a few songs.  I seldom remember  the entire song unless I have the words on a prompter while I embarrass myself on a karaoke night.  That line may run through my head and I may sing it on occasion or repeatedly.  Sometimes what people are talking about reminds me of a song and I sing or say the line.  This is apparently an annoying to some and endearing to others habit.  He apparently found it endearing rather than annoying.   It meant a great deal to me that he reached out to me.  I find that at this age I am touched by those efforts.  He found me through Facebook.  He said I was on a short list of people he wanted to find and speak to.  I was able to tell him how much his help during the illness of my father-in-law meant to me and to my ex-husband.

About a year ago my first serious boyfriend and I communicated through Linked In.  We had not spoken in five decades.  No, this is not the story of a rekindled romance!  He had to come to the town where I am now living to take care of family business so we thought it would be fun to have dinner.  We had a lovely evening of talking and hearing about what the other had been doing.  We are penpals now.   He has been married for four decades.  I frequently congratulate him on this feat.  It is just fun to be able to reconnect, isn't it?  It amazes me sometimes that when I get to speak to a long ago friend that we can quickly find threads to make conversations interesting. 

Today I am thinking about the fact that it is my brother's birthday.  He is indeed my oldest friend.  I will reach out and talk to him - probably by old fashioned telephone since he isn't into the social media thing. 

I suppose this is kind of an addendum to my blog from a couple of months ago.  Remembering old friends and doing what you can to find them is a meaningful endeavor.   It is a wonderful gift to say the things to them that you always meant to say about how much they meant to you, helped you, caused you to smile, and gave you warm and loved  feelings!  I know that the things old friends have said to me form a nice warm blanket around me when I think about them.  Perhaps you can make an effort to think of the people you miss and reach out to them.  Hand out some blankets to help your fellow humans make it through the rough patches! 

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