I was on Facebook about five months ago. I was looking around. I decided to look up a friend that I haven't seen or spoken to in over 40 years. I put in her name and a profile popped up and one look at the picture and I knew it was my friend Bib from the seventh grade! I was afraid to contact her because I surely thought that she would not remember me.
I went to Roy H. Mann Jr. High School 78 in Brooklyn. I moved to Long Island at the end of the seventh grade. It was extremely upsetting to leave my neighborhood and friends at what I think was a difficult age to move and change schools. I kept my little autograph book over the years and every so often I would look at it and miss my friends and school in Brooklyn. Three friends from Brooklyn always popped up in my mind over the years. Bib, Lori, and Arlene. And I also thought about and missed my friend Heidi from High School.
My friend, Bib, gave me a photo of her to remember her by and I did! I looked at it every so often over the years and read what she wrote to me in my little autograph book. We were only friends for one year but we had a special friendship and I was sad to see it end.
Well, I typed to her and said "Are you my friend Bib from Roy H. Mann?" I knew that she was screaming by the way she typed back. "YES, YES, IT'S ME BIB!!!! I couldn't believe it that I found my friend that I left behind so many years ago.
Then I found this out. My friend Bib lives in Manhattan. She became friendly with a girl (woman.....no..... a girl) named Andee who lives in her building. One day they were talking and Andee told Bib (Barbara) that she grew up in Long Island and graduated from Lawrence High School. When Barbara heard the name Lawrence High School she remembered that that was where I had moved to. She asked Andee if she knew an Elyse and Andee opened up the yearbook and pointed to my picture and Barbara said "yes, that's her!" Barbara did not contact me on Facebook for the same fear that I had, that I would not remember her.
When Barbara and I started typing back and forth to each other she then told me that she was friendly with Andee. (what a small world) I was not friends with Andee in high school, but the three of us decided to get together. I went into the city and met Barbara and Andee for dinner. We talked and talked and talked and then talked some more like we had just all been together the week before! The next two get togethers were in Long Island. Had such great fun! The three of us really clicked as new found friends. To top it off the last time the three of us met we went to the Long Beach boardwalk and by chance Andee ran into a friend that she had not seen in years and Barbara ran into a friend of a friend that she knew of because they were in the same sorority in college. The world gets smaller and smaller.
I am so happy that I found my friend Bib after all these years and to top it off she is friends with Andee who I graduated high school with. Thank you Facebook! I love spending time with my new friends from the past!!!!
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| Okay....this isn't us but we are friends just like these girls! |
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Hello ladies!
ReplyDeleteI'm Elyse's friend "Bib" (real name: Barbara) that you just read about. If you loved reading the above story like I did, you may want to know what my reaction was.
Just imagine sitting in your office and seeing an friend's name pop up in your online mailbox after 40 years -- a friend that you liked so much and always wondered about.
I literally got a chill when I saw the name "Elyse" and read that she was looking for me, after all this time. I walked out of my office and told some of my work friends, 'You're not going to believe what just happened..."
You see, I had kept a diary from back then and my friendship with Elyse is documented in it.I wrote all about how upset I was that she was moving. I still have the diary to this day and every once in a while, I will read it to get a laugh.
It just amazes me that two 13-year-olds could form such a tight bond of friendship that we both remember after such a long time. And that after knowing each other for only one school year, we could continue in the present as adults. I consider my friendship with Elyse as "a friendship that was interrupted," but now that we're friends again, we both know that will never happen again. Having Andee in the mix just adds to the fun. Every time I see or speak to Elyse now, the thought goes through my head that "I cannot believe I'm talking to the same Elyse from the seventh grade!"
Friends are precious. And some friends are just meant to be. In the case of Elyse and me, this is SO true.
Thanks for finding me, Elyse!!!!
That was pretty amazing meeting you guys on the Long Beach Boardwalk. My neighbor knew Barbara, I knew Andee and you, and your daughter and my neighbor's daughter work together !!! Small world for sure. Hard to believe it was a year ago !!! Hope all is well - Keep blogging Elyse !
ReplyDeleteHi Jodie,
ReplyDeleteIt was so great meeting you that day on the boardwalk. Needless to say...it is a small world! Thank you so much for following my blog. And thank you for your comment!!! So great to hear from you! Elyse