Long Time Friends

Some people claim facebook is detrimental to human socialization and contact. If you're truly "friends" with a person, then you wouldn't need facebook to keep in touch, that you'd just pick up the phone and call them every once in awhile. I am going to argue the opposite. While I do not think wall posts and picture comments are enough to cultivate a true friendship, I do think facebook is amazing at allowing people who have lost contact over the years get back in touch and renew their friendship, which otherwise would have been lost and unrecoverable.

Exhibit A: Jamie, my best friend from 5th-8th grade, and I lost contact when we went to separate High Schools. It's difficult to stay in touch when neither of us had our license and we lived across town from each other. Plus, we made new friends in High School and our lives moved on. I found Jamie on facebook last winter. It was awesome to see pictures of her family and her 2 kids. One day Jamie posted a facebook status update about her husband making it to the International Tree Climbing Competition which is being held in Rhode Island this year. (Who knew we had big enough trees for an international competition???) Knowing everything in RI is within a 45 minute drive, I was excited about the possibility of seeing her again after 12 years apart. This past weekend, thanks to facebook, Jamie, her husband Dave, myself, and Nathan met up for lunch in downtown Providence and had a great time catching up on the past 12 years. Had it not been for that single status update, Jamie would have come and gone from RI without me ever knowing! It was wonderful just picking up and chatting as if we'd been friends for years. I think some people are meant to be friends, no matter how many years they've spent apart.

Myself, Jamie, and Tarryn at 8th grade graduation, June 1997:

Jamie and me in Rhode Island, July 2009:

I don't think we've changed all that much. :)