As many do on AR, I read the articles and comments submitted here on a regular basis throughout the day as I find the time. I consider it part of my "continuing education". One I look forward to greatly.
One of the many things that I have learned since I joined AR, is that I can gain great new friends from across the nation ... people I never would have met and established a relationship with otherwise, if not for AR and my participation within it. I relish these new contacts and suspect I am not alone in that feeling as so many posts and comments contain that very sentiment.
What I did not expect to find through AR were OLD friends ... and to enjoy renewing past friendships through my activity and participation here. But yesterday, that all changed!
While reading a post entitled "DO WE HAVE AND HOLD OUR ETHICS DEAR ON ACTIVE RAIN?", by Dominick A. Dina (MA, REALTOR®, e-PRO, Broker) out of San Antonio, TX, the name stirre
d me. There was a family of that name that lived in the small town I had called home for over 25 years. Could it be the same family? My wife and I had been raised in another small community close by. Together, these towns (along with 2 others) fed into the same high school, so we got to know kids from surrounding towns as well as our own and become friends with them. The odds were slim that the family was the same, but who knows? I called in the expert.
I had my wife read Dominick's post. She took one look at the picture contained within Dominick's post and exclaimed, "It's Danny! It's got
to be! Looks just like him!"
It seems that her older brother had been a very good friend of "Danny" in high school, having been in band and the same trumpet section for four years. She had gotten to know him through her brother and band too. The memories of the friendship and the friend were all good.
So I wrote Dominick. Could it be that he was this "Danny"? Did he grow up in a small little village in the heart of Illinois? Could he have attended a high school in another state ... years ago ... and been a trumpet player? Would he respond? Or ... would he think I was some sort of nut? What were the odds of finding someone like this through the world of AR?
They were very very good! Dominick was indeed "Danny" and the long lost friend!
A few emails have now flown back and forth filling in the gaps of the years between high 
school and the present. My wife is going to re-connect Dominick with her brother, as well. Amazing that it happened ... and ALL BECAUSE OF ACTIVERAIN!
This is one benefit of my membership here that I did not expect.
It just goes to show you can never underestimate the reach of the networking you do ... or just how small your world has truly become because of it!
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