By Staff
Scot Beard
Last Friday I received a call from my mother saying one of my high school friends, Sean, was trying to get in touch with me.
I was happy to hear this because Sean was my best friend from seventh grade through graduation.
After school he joined the navy and I went to college.
Over the years, we lost touch with each other, and the last time I saw him was in early 2001.
A few weeks ago my wife and I were talking about attending my high school reunion, which is this week. I told her I did not want to go because I thought most of the friends I wanted to see – including Sean – wouldn't go to the reunion anyway.
So when my mother called me with his contact information I immediately returned his call.
To my surprise, he was in town.
When we met for lunch Sunday it was like we were back in high school shooting the breeze.
I am not one to reminisce about high school, and I have never referred to those years as the best days of my life, but visiting with Sean brought back quite a few memories.
It also reminded me of how good my friendships were with some of my classmates and it made me regret losing contact with them over the years.
When I returned home Sunday night I spent a few hours trying to hunt down those friends on the Internet.
I found many of them at social networking sites and sent them messages.
I have gotten a few responses back and I was surprised what some of them were doing or where they were living.
One of my friends swore he would never leave Alabama, but is now a youth minister in Arlington, Texas.
It has been a pleasure catching up with what these friends have been doing over the past 10 years.
Hopefully we will be able to stay in touch now that we have established our careers and have settled into home life.
If there is a friend you have been thinking about but have not spoken to in a while, I highly recommend looking them up. The last few days have been wonderful.
Although 1994-98 were not the best years of my life, the friends I made were some of the best people I have ever met.