I had a good friend from second to fourth grades. We were in a small, private school in New Jersey. and we had a small class (twelve kids in fourth grade). In any event, I had a friend in the class. We tended to stick together because we were both outcasts of a sort. We were non-athletic, got good grades, etc.
My parents split up in May when I was in fourth grade and my mother took my sister and myself with her to Brooklyn. That was the last I saw of anyone from that class. One day I was in class, the next day - gone, never to return.
However, I never forgot my friend. I still have class pictures from the third and fourth grades, and that helped me to remember the people in the class, including my friend.
Well, life moves forward. I went on to high school, college, a job, marriage and parenthood. One day, just for the hell of it, while googling names of people I know, I put his name in. Sure enough, I get a hit from a lawyer in New Jersey. Could it be him?
Well, I finally worked up the courage to send an email to someone whom I haven’t seen in over 25 years. I decided to wait until his birthday (yes, I remembered when his birthday was) to send the letter. Shortly thereafter, I got a reply. Sure enough it was him. (Yay!) He gave me his phone number and I’m going to call and start catching up on nearly 25 years of history.
My sixth grade boyfriend was like that. In class one day, gone the next. (Well, he called me before they actually moved, and told me what was happening.) I always wondered what happened to him, until I was a senior in high school. Someone (a vindictive former friend) wrote me a letter posing as his mother and told me that he had killed himself. I spent a couple of years thinking he was dead.
Well, I looked up his name online about 2 years ago, to see if I could find any information at all. I found his name on one of those “reunion” sites. I emailed the guy, just out of curiousity, and it turns out that it was him. He’s married to a wonderful man, and they have a 7 year old son from his husband’s first marriage. We’ve emailed each other a couple of times, but we’re just not the same people we were. (He moreso than me )
Can someone suggest some “reunion” sites? There’s a friend I have been trying to get in touch with off and on but have had no such luck. He was one of those kids who just suddenly disappeared. I only knew him at school and never went to his house. I suspect his home life wasn’t so great and didn’t want people to visit, or his parents didn’t allow visitors, long story.
So far I’ve tried www.classmates.com, but his name did not come up. I also tried www.anybirthday.com and got some matches to his name, but the birth years of the people who turn up are clearly not the guy I’m looking for. I considered using www.1800ussearch.com, but I couldn’t justify the $40 fee with no guarantee that he could be located. His name also comes up a few times when I seach online phone directories. It’s an uncommon name, so it only generates a few hits. There is one listing that is relatively geographically close, but only a phone number is listed, and I don’t want to give him an unexpected phone call and falsely arouse his suspicions. If I had a mailing address I’d write him a letter explaining why I am writing to him and wanting to find out if he’s the guy I’m looking for.
Heck, if his name is uncommon enough, I would call him. Just explain who you are, and if he doesn’t want to get in touch or isn’t the guy, he’ll let you know. The only thing you lose is a little spare change calling him.
Heh, I just went to www.classmates.com and found out that my soon-to-be ex-wife left cookies on my computer that logged me in to her profile automatically, allowing me to edit her profile.
I found a friend from Junior High just by going through the on-line phone book. We hadn’t seen each other in 20 years, and now we see each other every few months and just love spending time together again. I’m so glad I found her. She’s just the best!
I found my best friend from grades 1-4 at classmates.com. She did a disappearing act similar to those described by other posters; she remembers coming home from school one day to find her stuff packed, and being informed that she was going to stay with a grandmother in a nearby city (here in Kansas) while her parents got settled in Texas, and then they’d send for her.
She eventually went to Texas, then to California, then to Illinois before returning to Kansas for college (at which point I left Kansas for college in Georgia, then did stints in Texas, California, and Pennsylvania).
Anyway, back in September, I looked her up after all these years (24, to be exact), and whaddaya know! Not only are we both in Kansas now, but she’s only about an hour away from me! We’ve pretty much picked up where we left off . . . in fact, a couple of weekends ago I went up to her place for a sleepover! Nope, no pillowfights in our underwear, but we did stay up gabbing till goddamn FOUR A.M., which is more than either of us old broads are equipped to handle anymore!
I’m excited for you, Zev! Let us know how it goes!
Congratulations, Zev!!! It’s a wonderful feeling to see someone from way back then, isn’t it?
I had a friend from high school contact me last fall. He was one of my best friends then, and I considered his mother the next best thing to my own mom. I stood up in his wedding, and he in mine. We stayed in touch after that for awhile, but it’s been 10 years since we saw each other. He lives maybe an hour from me now. I think I’ll call him this weekend.
And if you’ve got an idea of where someone lives, you can often get a phone # at www.switchboard.com. Plug in a name or partial name, the state, and optionally a first name, and press the button. Ain’t technology grand?
He was a good male platonic friend seventh through ninth grades, a time when I also had good female friends but was finding the whole puberty thing really confusing, plus there was all sorts of high melodrama going on at home. After ninth grade I moved to California and we totally lost track. So it was cool finding him again – he’s a lawyer up in Maine (Maine???) now.
Uhhh, Dude! Please tell us that you are not going to let this little opportunity for mischief pass. I mean, this fell into your lap, a gift from the heavens! Surely there’s something you can do there… Let your imagination flow; it’ll come to you as though from a dream.
Opporknockity tunes but once and all that.
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