Reconnecting

I got started on FaceBook because the niece and nephew out here in AZ use it to post pics of their kids, and since I don't get to see them very often it's nice to see how they are growing. You know that those preschool years kids change so fast that it's hard to keep up.

Anyway, I started a FB account for that purpose never intending to use it in any other way--after all I don't have a need to tell people how my "farmville" work is going, or ask for boards to build a new barn, and all those other things that folks get involved in on that social networking site.

Funny thing has happened, though. No, I didn't get hooked on the "games" part of it. But I have started reconnecting with former students from my early years of teaching at Richmond-Burton High School in IL. I think the earliest year is class of '73 so far. That happened to be a student who was in China on business at the time he responded. I had requested his connection because his sister said I was always one of his favorite teachers. We've started a correspondence and are catching up on 37 years of history.

With some students, as it is with friends, it's like no time has passed at all with regard to the comfort level of the reconnection. With others, it's awkward at best once you get beyond the "do you remember when's" of the conversation. Same with family--sometimes the months/years apart are like they never happened. Other times, it seems the gulf is as wide as the Grand Canyon; and bridging it feels impossible.

But whether it's friends, former students, or family . . . those connections are the lifelines that strengthen and support our lives. They form the fabric that we call living. As such, they claim all the importance and effort needed to sustain them.