A familiar face from a happy time

I can't tell you what an Odyssey (yes, I just used a capitol letter b/c I'm used to referring to my mini-van) joining Facebook has been. I have several friends who have told me about it, encouraged me to join etc. But I had a My Space page and really don't get a lot out of it. Well, FB has been a very different experience. I have found and talked to soooooo many old friends, people I went to school with etc. It's been a week of re-living many memories. My high school reunion is coming up, so I thought it might be fun to refresh some faces and names, but I've found that I have taken so much more from it.

As you start searching through the recesses of your brain for "Friends" to "find" on FB your mind starts to wander. I decided to try and find a friend of my Dad's that I lost touch with shortly after he died. I looked up his name and and got a bunch of hits with female names attached. I moved on.

I decided to try again, my inner bloodhound on overdrive, and lo and behold - I found him!! I "friended" him and we've been exchanging e-mails ever since. There have been a lot of laughs and tears exchanged, and it made joining FB 150% worth it for me. Here is a photo he sent (probably taken by his amazingly talented daughter who is now all grown up, or by his beautiful and compassionate wife). But it pretty much summarizes how I remember him. Very deep and soulful, guitar in hand, making music.

WP's family had a lake house in NH that we went to. Some of my best memories of my Dad, even my life in general, are from that time. WP made up great games to play and organized this enormous scavenger hunt that required boats, cars etc. I still tell people about it.

The best part of this exchange (besides that we're now back in touch and getting to see him in these great photos) is that he wrote a song about my Dad. He sent me the lyrics and it was just amazing. It really healed a little part of my heart to know he had a friend that loved him and understood him so well that this song could have been written. I will treasure it more than you can imagine. So, thank you WP.