My Old Friend!

My friend Maggie got me into Facebook. I had been reluctant to join, thinking it was an invasion of privacy, but I finally succumbed. How could I not? As a writer one cannot really afford the luxury of privacy. Invasion or not, one’s name has to be out there. My page, I’m ashamed to say, does not have the number of friends and fans that Maggie’s page has. She is much better at social networking than I am and has a huge family. I don’t even know 90% of my ‘so called’ friends, but… I have collected beautiful eggs and hatchlings along the way (what for I don’t know).


One day last week, I decided to look up an old friend--someone I had gone to school with in Spain many years ago. Her name is not common, so I figured I would be lucky and typed it into the search bar. Several choices popped up and I picked one that sounded possible. Before sending her a message I remembered I was sending it under my writer’s pseudonym. I can only imagine her wondering who ‘the hell is Diana Flori’.

Are you so and so? She writes me back.

My delight is immense! Facebook is amazing indeed! After so many years, it seemed unbelievable that I had found my old friend. I immediately called my younger brother, who also went to school with my friend’s sister and brother. On her end, my friend had already told her siblings as well. As we interchanged emails, catching up on old times, I promise to send them old photos.

Yesterday, my brother and I spent Sunday morning looking through old family albums. We laughed as we turned the pages, happily reliving old times and forgotten memories. Guiltily, I remember hating all those photos my camera-happy father would make us pose for. What a fool I was then? Had my late-father known that someday I would regret it? Maybe even thank him? I hope so.

Thanks Dad!