Friendships sometimes come and go.
People change and move on and sometimes those moves are physical moves as well.
Growing up I moved a little bit due to the fact that my dad was a United Methodist pastor. When I was 2 months old until the time I was 8 years old I lived in a little river town in Hannibal, Ohio.
Some of my fondest memories are sitting on the banks that were in front of our house that overlooked the Ohio River. There was a road that passed in front of those banks that divided the land between our house and the river. It was a fairly busy road at that time even though Hannibal only had about 500 residents.
Our cat, Peek, (short for Peek a Boo) would cross that road to go hunt for mice in the fields that lay right up next to the river. She would look both ways before she crossed. Not all of her offspring learned that lesson from her and there were a few casualties over the years.
50 years later I have been able to reconnect with some of my fondest memories. What a joy.
My best friend in first and second grade was Beth Rich. Through the amazing power and reach of social media we reconnected on Facebook a few years ago. The fun part of this story is that Beth married a Mr. Brown and now she is Beth Brown instead of me. I love how our lives have reconnected after 50 years. I also love how alike we are in so many ways.
When I realized that Chris and I were going to be taking a trip out west I told him I really wanted to meet up with Beth and since he is Mr. Wonderful he made sure that a stop in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho was on the itinerary. When I contacted Beth and told her we wanted to take them to dinner she countered with a “Well, you are just going to stay with us” response.
And so we did. And we had the most wonderful time.
50 years had passed but our love for one another had not changed and we found ourselves catching up on family and life in general.
Rick and Beth were the perfect hosts and I fell in love with their dogs, Caroline and Spanky.
I could not have asked for a better visit. Coeur d’Alene is beautiful and I am already ready to go back and visit. But the next visit is on them—they have to come to Brevard.
Photo Credit to Rick and Beth Brown
In case you wondered about the picture at the top of the post it is of Beth and my 1st grade “boyfriend” Lynn. We were playing Pick Up Sticks at my house and apparently I said something to make them laugh and my mom caught it on camera.
Do you have a friend that you lost track of and then later found through social media? I would love to hear all about it in the comments and remember that our Comments for a Cause this month goes to CROP Walk.
20 Comments
Leave a commentI have reconnected with several friends…though no one from as far back as 1st or 2nd grade…I can’t even REMEMBER 1st or 2nd grade! It’s all good, isn’t it! Glad you had fun reconnecting, and I’m sure they’ll be now to the Carolinas soon!
Haha. She is about the only one I do remember though I did remember teacher names which is amazing after all of these years. It is pretty fun to find folks you lost track of over the years and find out what they are doing now.
So happy you had a wonderful visit. This post made my morning:)
It was the dogs, right? They had to make you smile because they are so cute!
I’ve tried to find a couple of early childhood friends in the past few years, to no avail so far. I do have a contact now with a man I went to school with before my family moved when I finished 4th grade. Maybe I’ll try again.
I think you should definitely try again to find those friends. It is an amazing thing to reconnect and see what everyone is up to. Good luck!
I love reconnecting with old friends! I had a childhood friend who was the daughter of my dad´s best friend. We were born about a year apart and spent the first ten years of our lives in each other´s company a lot. We called our parents Aunty and Uncle as we did in those days. I was convinced we were cousins and argued with the teacher about it. My family moved to another community and we kept in touch for awhile but we got married, had kids, divorced and remarried. Our moms kept us informed of each other´s life but it wasn´t until a few years ago, through social media, that we reconnected. She had done some research and found that we were related after all and were something like 5th cousins. We laugh now as I was right and the teacher was wrong!! We saw each other after many years last summer and it was so good to catch up. BTW I love Coeur d’ Alene and have been there a few times. Once again you have stirred some good memories!!
Oh I love that you have been to Coeur d’Alene! Isn’t it an amazing place? I loved your story about reconnecting and I think there are a lot of folks who can identify with that as well.
I love this story. That your friendship has rekindled after all these years is lovely. That Beth is now Beth Brown. That you loved cats way back when and still do. That Beth welcomed you with that personalized cowboy sign.
This is a great story that starts my day in a truly joyous way.
Glad you liked the post. We really had such a great time catching up and we have a lot more in common after all of these years than I thought we would. Plus she is an amazing photographer. Check out her website at http://www.thrublueiis.com
Love this and you!
AW. Back at you,Katy. Miss you!
This post made me smile! I know FB has its critics, but it has brought me back in contact with folks I haven’t seen in years. Love the pics!
Exactly! You get it! It can really be a wonderful thing.
Social media has been good for reconnecting with long lost friends. That’s the good part about it. I was able to reconnect with friends of ours from my husband’s military days. We left the military, they stayed in and my friend’s husband made it a career until retirement. They moved all over the country and world; we moved all over the country too and so, we lost touch with one another until a few years ago. We had a lovely day reunion by meeting in the middle from where we both lived. And now we keep in touch via Facebook. It’s true that when you reconnect with a very good friend it’s like you never were apart!
I love your story as well. It is such a great thing when you can stay in touch with folks and I think social media can do that for us these days. Thanks for telling me your story!
Gosh, I actually remember Beth Rich. I visited friends in Post Falls (the lower rent district, to the east of Coeur d’Alene), a couple of years ago. It is a pretty neat part of Idaho. They have moose, for crying out loud! They fed me some, and it was the best game meat I’ve ever eaten!
Yay that you remember! We had such a great time catching up and her husband is great as well. Their address is actually Post Falls . She gave us the tour and it was amazing. We did not see any moose there, though, and have yet to see one this trip to the Grand Tetons. Plenty of elk and a random bear but no moose. I think our last trip here we topped the moose sightings and don’t get any more.
Because we married, changed our names and most of us moved, I have met up with only one school fried. And she was the exception that probed the rule, she hadn’t moved on Gals you had such a good catch up with your friend
[…] and her husband Rick in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. I already shared our fabulous time with them in this post that chronicles our friendship of over 50 years. While it wasn’t a true B and B it felt […]