Monday, March 13, 2006

Re-connecting With People

Since turning 50, I have been on a mini-mission: finding old friends and family members. I'm not sure why, other than I want to see how they turned out after all these years of no contact. I left my home state Louisiana 29 years ago and didn't do a very good job of keeping in touch. Guess I thought I could always do that. Maybe I thought I'd move back there some day.

So how did they all turn out?

One old friend from high school is a teacher with two sons in college. A high school and college friend is about to retire from the Post Office. A post-college friend is also a teacher whose whose son lives in France. The cousin who lives closest to me (in Virginia) is semi-retired and has two grandkids. He was the first re-connect in this series. I saw his sister for the first time in more than 30 years back in September. She and her husband live a wonderful life in California and Washington state.

Back in October I spent a week with another cousin near New Orleans who I had only seen once in 30-something years and we've become friends. I tracked down former co-workers and bosses spanning my 30-year career. Most of them are still in the radio business and one is doing some kind of computer thing. I have no contact with my first wife.

I am also running a parallel search for purpose and meaning in my life. Maybe this reconnection business is connected to my reconnecting. Connecting the dots to see if the disjointedness of my life actually has any pattern.

Is this a boomer thing? Or just my thing?

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