Making new friends by keeping the old

Have you known most of your FB friends for a while? Months? Years? Decades? I've got some that fall into each category. Last night I finally got to have one of the meet-ups I've been trying to plan for a very long while. After finding several classmates from my kindergarten class (at Hackensack Christian School) on FB, I started to think that it might be pretty neat to get together with as many of them as were willing, and see how and what everyone is doing face to face. The initial excitement happens when requests are accepted, pics from over two decades ago are posted, and comments are flying back and forth between classmates from forever ago. It dies down over time when the novelty wears off, but not so much for me. Eventually I posted an event page for a mini-reunion and tried to send out invites to every classmate I could find. Over a couple of months, several people expressed interest and even excitement, though unfortunately not everyone was able to, or interested in making it. Some people are traveling or living far away, and some are probably just not as enthused as I, about the prospect of meeting up with people you knew when you were 4. That said, I had a great time out with two of my former classmates: Jennifer and La Toya.

We all met up for dinner in town, as we're all pretty local. Jens' friend Jenissa came along also. She is an HCS alum as well, though after I'd left the school in kindergarten. Jen, Jenissa and La Toya all spent several more years than I at the school. It was funny hearing stories about kids, teachers, etc. that I'd only known briefly. Felt kind of like hearing the continued plot of a cancelled sitcom, and thinking... ahhhh, THAT'S what happened to them! We looked and laughed at some old pictures and told stories from the early 80's. The food was great! ...it complimented the company well.

Jen works in the drug... er... pharmaceutical industry. I can't remember what our conversations were like back in school, but it turns out we've STILL got a few things in common these days. We both dig country music, though I defer to Jenns' passionate devotion to Nashville and Mr. Brad Paisley. It took me a while to come around to country, but as of a few years back, I'm sold! She's also a 'Lost' fan, and is currently a fraction of a season behind me, and the rest of the viewing public that is currently caught up. Apparently she got sucked in just as I did. She has a ridiculously handsome iguana, is lots of fun, and has awesome energy. We talked about bowling and *gulp* ...karaoke in the future.

I've known La Toya since kindergarten and through the following years as well. She came into middle school with me and our families have had ties for a while as well. It hadn't been that long since I'd seen La Toya, but it's been recently that I found out that we share a passion for art. She even told me about some work she'd done that I'd admired in high school, never knowing it was hers. I work and am friends with La Toya's mom Theresa as well. My girlfriend Danielle (who also came to enjoy dinner along with her mom Candy) is very close friends with Theresa, so expect to see her up here for a meet-up as well. I know I'll be seeing La Toya around again. We bump into each other every now and then, but this was the first time I can remember sitting down and hanging out. ALSO, La Toya has a great smile (see above), very much like her mom. The night really turned out great.

Coolest surprise of the night was when our friend and classmate Kera showed up. She could only stay for a minute, but I think it was great that she popped in to say hello. Hopefully we can get her and a bunch of others out the next time we try to do this. So to my long lost and seemingly forgotten friends, hidden among the hundreds of other FB friends... hit me up! What's 24 years?

Face to Face #10: 2 friends

Friend count: 15