Skip to main content

New Friends

friends by ~nn88 Thanks to Facebook, and to a lesser extent Myspace (which I openly hate but keep since others still use it) I’ve recently reconnected with a lot of old friends. Not old friends from a few years ago, but people from almost different lifetimes. While I’m talking a little more with some friends from college, almost 11 years ago now, I’m talking to more from high school. And a few days ago I even reconnected with a friend from middle school. All this leads to an interesting reality.

I’m starting “new” friendships with people who know more about my past than almost anyone I’ve met in the past few years.

Tons of different emotions come up when we talk. At times I think about how great all of our lives have turned out, and how people have gone beyond my wildest dreams.

My college friend Kat is a PhD in England researching cures to incurable disease. then my friend Coretta traveled all over the world to end up in Maine to teach blind and deaf kids. My friends are making huge impacts on the world, even those who have created a great family that is growing into some amazing kids.

In the past the only time you’d really talk to someone who knew about you when you grew up were family or your best friend since preschool. All of a sudden I’m meeting with people who saw me at my worst, and at my best. These are people who I have given everything to and treated as badly as I’ve treated anyone. It brings up some great smiles and some unexpected tears.

More than anything though all these connections remind me of how I was touched by each of these lives, and how I was able to touch each life. It also reminds me just how many people I could still reach out to for help, with very little lead time.

There are a ton of ways where technology over-stimulates us, and pushes far more information than we could ever handle. Technology is also the great connector. Just as a billions of computers are all connected together, so are billions of people.

Our world is smaller than ever, and our group of friends continues to grow larger because of it.

There’s something amazing to be said for meeting up with old friends and finding that a part of your heart is still committed to them. what a great opportunity that the people who shaped our lives can easily come back and shape them again.

What are we doing to really sustain those relationships?

Peace,
Tom

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Speaking of reconnecting, we should catch too. Soon. Have a blessed Easter!
April 10, 2009 at 10:15:00 AM EDT
Anonymous said…
That's catch up! Sorry. Peace, SS
April 10, 2009 at 10:16:00 AM EDT
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Red-Gate SQL Compare

Every now and then I come across a program that becomes so ingrained in my daily work that I hardly know how I'd get by without it.  I'll probably break down a couple over the next few days, but for database work, I have never found anything as good as Red Gate's SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare .  Essentially these tools let you compare two SQL Server databases (all objects, users, permissions, functions, diagrams, anything) and update changes to whichever database you want.  This is amazingly useful for deploying database changes to a test or production environment (do it to production with ridiculous care, even though it will generate a SQL Script for you and run all updates in one transaction), and making sure everything is synchronized. For releases we can just generate the compare script, confirm that the changes match the updates we want to go out, and store it all in one place with the release details.  This is true for both the structure and the d...
6 comments
Read more

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Microsoft Access

I've answered this question in some form or another far more times than I care to count.  Most often it's a question of "why do I need a fancy Web application when I can just build this myself in two days in Access.  I mean, the data's already in Excel."  So I figured I'd post out what I threw together, I know I've missed some points. Overview Microsoft Access is an ideal solution for relatively small datasets and a limited number of users. From the Microsoft Web site: “As a desktop database, Access is well suited for small, departmental applications. These applications may start as one user’s project. For example, an employee realizes that productivity can be increased if a paper-based process is automated with an Access application. Other users in the department recognize that they can take advantage of the application if additional features are added. As more features are added, more employees run the application. As time goes by, more and more Access...
8 comments
Read more

Portrait Innovations

I mentioned in a previous post that I surprised Erin with pictures from Portrait Innovations of Rachel, Colin and (a few) of myself.  This generated more comments than 99% of my posts receive (read that as I received one comment).  Because both Erin and I have gone separately and had great experiences with the company, I figured I would spend a post explaining how it works, what's different from Sears and a professional photographer, and why I like them. Great Shots Erin and I went to Sears a LOT when Rachel was born.  We went every month to track her growth.  So far Colin's on an every 3 months cycle (second kid, life sucks, get over it and quit whining to me about being "fair").  One of the things with Sears that kind of bugged me was the set positions.  You know, laying on the floor with head propped on arms, sitting on stool cross legged.  While I think having some set poses are a good idea, at both Sears we've used, it's too extreme....
8 comments
Read more