Not sure which this one is but….
You have seen ‘em on TV shows like Oprah, heard 'em on radio and read ‘em in the newspaper or online. But how many of you have lived it?
You know those stories? Think back to some of your childhood friendships, some of them undoubtedly close. Do you know where those friends are today?
Believe it or not I also had some close friends while a teenager and going to school. No I am not going to tell you when that was, though you will probably figure it out on your own. From about fifth grade on through graduation my best friend and I had some crazy times growing up. Even changing schools a few times, but still managed to stay in touch. However after graduation that changed.
After graduation I left for the military and my friend left for college. Nearly immediately we lost touch because it was difficult to get a hold of either of us in the first place coupled with constantly changing addresses. Soon we had no idea where the other one was.
Over the years I have tried numerous times to find him through friends, various online methods, looking for phone numbers, email addresses, anything and had no luck at all. When out of the blue it happened.
About nine months ago I was sitting in front of this very computer working on some comps for a client when a window popped up letting me know I had received a friend request on facebook. Honestly I am not that active on facebook. Certainly not as active as I should be and the person now contacting me through facebook, out of the blue was Jim, the very same friend I had been trying to find for about 20 years.
As Emeril would say – “Bam”
I nearly destroyed my computer trying to get my facebook page to open faster.
We quickly reconnected. I found out that he was now a Lieutenant Colonel in the military (no surprise there). I also found out he frequently made trips to nearby Colorado Springs (only about 35 minutes from my home in south Denver) and one of which was coming up. This allowed us to meet and talk for a bit on that occasion and a couple subsequent trips. He was able to meet my family one trip out and we went to a Broncos game.
Come to find out he had been trying to get assigned to Colorado for about 15 years, but thus far had been unable. His family also badly wanted to come to Colorado. We talked about how great that would be if he and his family could move out here, but knew the reality of it. Being in the military where you want to go rarely matches up with where you are assigned.
Imagine how surprised I was when again out of the blue about six weeks ago Jim calls me to say he was getting reassigned to Colorado and had orders to report the first of July. Excited does not even begin to describe it. After over two decades of not knowing where the other was in the span of 9 months we will be living within an hour of each other and have plans for our families to spend this Fourth of July weekend together.
My Oprah moment or just really cool, this is going to be a fabulous Fourth of July.
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