We first met when we were about nine years old. We quickly became friends - best friends. We were in the same class, but I think she had started coming to my school when we were in grade four (I seem to recall her being in my brother's class), but I don't know if we had become friends then. I do remember that we were in the same class in grade five, and that's where our friendship developed.
I don't remember specifics about playing together, outside of school, but I do remember going to her house or her coming to mine. I also somewhat remember her little brother (who was probably a year or two younger than us) playing with us sometimes. It's been over 30 years since we last saw each other.
At the end of grade five, my family moved to New Brunswick and I was quite upset about losing my best friend. Somewhere along the line, I had acquired a decoration for my bed. It was a red octopus made from yarn. It's tentacles were thickly braided, and the round head had been tied off (giving it a head shape). I put that octopus on the centre of my bed, tentacles spread out, and I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Before we moved, I gave it to V.
For a few years, V and I would exchange letters via snail mail (this was before the internet, before email, texting, and Facebook), but as we grew older we gradually lost touch. Over the years I've thought about her, wondered what she was doing and where she might be living. When Facebook came out, every so often I would try to search for her with no luck. I tried to Google her name, hoping something would come up, but I had no luck with that either. I figured she had married and without her new last name (providing, of course, that she took her husband's name) I wouldn't be able to find her. I never really gave up trying to find her again.
Last night, we reconnected!
You see, back in October, I was searching Facebook for her again. I remember she had two brothers, though I couldn't recall her older brother's name. I was fairly certain of her younger brother's name. I tried searching for his name on Facebook. I came across a man with his name, but since I also hadn't seen him in over 30 years, I had no idea if it was B. I decided to try my luck. I sent a message with details of where V and I had lived (very close together) and mentioned about being in the same class, etc. I mentioned that I have been trying to connect with her for so long, and if he were indeed her brother, B, I wondered if he could put me in contact with her.
I waited a few days for a response, and after not receiving one, I sent a message to a woman on his friend's list with the same first name has V. Again, I gave details that might spark a couple of memories. I never heard anything back. I assumed I had the wrong people and felt a little disappointed.
About three weeks ago, I received a reply from the man I had messaged. He had only come across my message (and several others he didn't know he had). This was indeed V's brother, B! He said I should contact her (and yes, that was V in his friend's list) directly. Well, I became busy with work and was sick for a little while, so I hadn't been able to send another message to V.
Last night, V contacted me! My message had gone to her spam folder so she hadn't seen it. She'd been talking with B that day and he had mentioned me contacting him and said she should check her spam folder to see if I had sent her a message. She did, and then she replied.
We messaged back and forth for a little while, doing a little catching up, but soon she had to go as she had some work to do. We promised to chat again today, and we did. I'm not sure how long we messaged back and forth, but we recalled memories and people from the past. She had also wondered about me over the years and had hoped we could reconnect one day again.
I'm so thrilled that V and I have been able to renew our friendship again and start catching up on life over the years. I hope that now with modern communication being a lot easier than it was in our youth, V and I will be able to stay in touch now. I can't explain just how happy this makes me feel. I've reconnected (over Facebook) with a few others from my childhood, but I've not felt as happy as I am with this.
I'm so thankful God has brought V back into my life!
