TRIGGERING CONNECTION

I find it very odd, the things that are causing the severed cords of connection in my life to suddenly reassemble themselves. Take my cousin Jerry, for instance. I've barely seen or talked to him since he moved to NYC about 30 years ago, and though we recently befriended one another on facebook, we had not yet sent any messages back and forth. After all this time, what would we have to talk about? What would we have in common? One day, though, he posted a photo of his cabin in the Catskills. Something about that cabin spoke to me, so I sent a note telling him "That's just my style. You must have good taste!" Then he sent me pictures of the interior, and I realized we really did have a few things in common. That led to messages about everything from color preferences to gardening and vintage pottery collections. Now, suddenly, I'm starting to know my cuz again. How cool is that?

A similar thing is happening with regard to high school acquaintances. I went to the first two reunions, and it was kind of fun seeing how people had changed and what they were up to, but after we moved to Indonesia, I lost touch with all but a couple of people. By the time our 30th rolled around, I was afraid I wouldn't recognize anyone, and even if I did, what on earth would we talk about? They don't really know me anymore (if they ever did) nor I them. What could we possibly have in common? But then a strange thing happened, and again, I owe it all to facebook.

One lovely lady recognized my profile picture when scrolling through the list of fellow H.S. graduates, even though I hadn't thought to include my maiden name (a mistake since corrected). She was shocked to see I lived in Wimberley. Her BFF (who also went to our HS, but whom I only knew by sight, and would never in a million years have thought I had anything in common with) lived in Wimberley too! Lovely Lady sent BFF the link to my blog. One day, BFF walked up to me in Mima's and introduced herself, saying "I just want you to know, I love your blog. In fact, I've read every one of those books listed on your sidebar, and if you want to talk about getting back to the earth and living the simple life, let's get together some time. I'll tell you all about the years my husband and I spent as homesteaders." And there I'd been, picturing her as the California Blonde type! Just shows to go ya.

Since then, a few others from H.S. have seen my name and contacted me, other connections have been made, and a most surprising thought is working its way into my consciousness - that maybe, just maybe, a 40th reunion might not be a total snooze after all. At least, not if I drop my preconceptions, and walk in with an open mind.