Finding very old friends
By MsTickle
@MsTickle (25180)
Australia
October 26, 2010 4:18pm CST
Hi everyone...yes, I'm a member of this site but like here, I don't use my real name.... I have found I don't really get what I'm supposed to do there...it's all a bit out there and not very private...if I want to be in touch with friends, I use email.
Anyway...long story short, I have used the site to try and find old friends and I was successful with one guy I knew years ago. We kept in touch even though I moved around a lot and then something happened and we lost touch. Just recently, I found him again on FB and things are really good.
One of the things that has happened as a result of finding R is that he is still in contact with a few other old mates and so I have also caught up with another guy, G, who I had a bit of a crush on back when we were in our late teens. I haven't seen or heard of him for over 30 years. He had the chance to travel lately as he has taken early retirement and he called in the other day and we had dinner and talked and laughed up a storm. It was sooooo good to see him. Turns out he had a bit of a crush on me back then too. Sadly, it's unlikely our paths will ever cross again as he lives quite a long way away.
Have you managed to "find" someone special to you on Facebook? Can you relate any sort of experience you have had there?
7 people like this
22 responses
@quita88 (3715)
• United States
27 Oct 10
Ah, HA! Glad ya asked ! YES, I've found four of my high school friends that I graduated with!!!!!!!!!!! These are all guys, all married and none of us had any crushes on each other !!!
We did have some everlasting friendships we've rekindled tho and every week we share on email our feelings, our loves and just life in general.
It's called a "Debate Club: :) and one of us sends out his mail and we all respond as we feel we want to and it gets to be such a wonderful day on Sunday!
Now, I found these guys on FB but don't do FB unless necessary ........a personal decision!
So, yes, we've "found" each other :)
I do hope your relationship continues and it might happen if it is meant to be :)
hugs,
quita
1 person likes this
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
28 Oct 10
Oh wow! that's great news my friend. Were any of the others in touch prior to you all connecting or did you all come together at the same time? I have very little to do with FB in the general run of things, so it's just if I think of someone I'd like to find or I also like the ten pin bowling game on there.
I hope you and your guys manage to keep in touch regularly. Anything that makes us feel more alive just has to be good.
@quita88 (3715)
• United States
29 Oct 10
Really , I joined Facebook with no intentions of finding anyone ! But, there were several in FB that I knew from high school and one in particular !
Well, see. with this one came three others ! We are now all buddies and we mail each other all the time.
I did miss an annual camp out they had been having due to the fact I had to have heart surgery, but if it's at all possible I'll be with them next year!
I am not a fan of FB either but I do go into it ever so often when some one sends a friend request.
But believe me that one time changed my life !
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
20 Nov 10
I have found many people on FB that I knew from my childhood. As I left school before some of my friends and worked in an inner city suburb, I ended up hanging around with a lot of people there and lost touch with my school friends eventually. I then started working back in the area I lived in a couple of years later and saw some of these people every now and then at pubs, but it was never the same. 
I then moved out of the town that I grew up in and then later moved interstate where I am still now and had lost contact for good I thought. That was until Facebook came along and I found a few old friends again. I have even managed to catch up with a few of them in recent years in real life after getting back in contact on FB.
Similarly to you, I even found a girl that I had a crush on a school and she felt the same way about me. It was interesting to see what she had turned out like and to talk about how we were both too shy to get together at school. 
I then moved out of the town that I grew up in and then later moved interstate where I am still now and had lost contact for good I thought. That was until Facebook came along and I found a few old friends again. I have even managed to catch up with a few of them in recent years in real life after getting back in contact on FB.
Similarly to you, I even found a girl that I had a crush on a school and she felt the same way about me. It was interesting to see what she had turned out like and to talk about how we were both too shy to get together at school. @MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
20 Nov 10
It's strange but nice to let your imagination wander and try to figure out how your life might be if you had gone with that other person. I was tickled pink to find out he thought I was "pretty alright" too. That bit of info did good things for my self esteem.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
21 Nov 10
Our self esteems can always do with a bit of boosting every now and then.
@Stiletto (4579)
•
7 Nov 10
I am on Facebook but I hardly use it. To be honest a lot of things about the site really irritate me, and I also think it's a bit of a lazy way to keep in touch with people. I have been contacted by some people I went to school with, and I haven't seen them in more than 30 years. It was nice to hear from them, but I have to admit that once we got past the "how are you, what you doing now, do you have any kids?" stage, and did a bit of reminiscing, there wasn't much else to say really. Oh and I have been contacted by a couple of exes - I wasn't so pleased to hear from them though but the "block" button was useful!
It's a shame your friend lives so far away, but you never know, you might meet up again.
1 person likes this
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
7 Nov 10
Hi Stiletto, nice to see you. 
Same with me..I rarely use Facebook unless I get a message via my email and the site irritates me too. I find friends mixing with friends doesn't always work out and some pretty inappropriate things can occur. Sadly, a lot of my Internet friends have "gone over" to Facebook and so I have lost touch with them as I prefer my sites and they prefer Facebook.
I've met up with one friend from a long way off and I'm sure I will connect with the other one too at some stage. You just keep your hopes alive and anything can happen.
Same with me..I rarely use Facebook unless I get a message via my email and the site irritates me too. I find friends mixing with friends doesn't always work out and some pretty inappropriate things can occur. Sadly, a lot of my Internet friends have "gone over" to Facebook and so I have lost touch with them as I prefer my sites and they prefer Facebook.
I've met up with one friend from a long way off and I'm sure I will connect with the other one too at some stage. You just keep your hopes alive and anything can happen.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
26 Oct 10
I've gotten back in touch with quite a few family members that I haven't seen since I was a child, also a fair number of people I used to work with. The only person from my childhood outside that category is a neighbor who used to live on our street, and my sister actually found him. I've left him a few comments, but he hasn't ever replied back.
1 person likes this
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
27 Oct 10
I connected with another old friend, someone IO was pretty close to for a short while and he even phoned me and we talked for over an hour but then....nothing. That was months ago. I'm still wondering about all the bull regarding 'how good it was to find each other, let's keep in touch' and where that all came from. I was genuinely pleased to catch up and he seemed to be too. I just don't get it. 
1 person likes this
@smartrich22 (393)
• Indonesia
15 Nov 10
no, I think I've done on my searching to find someone new of the old friend on my facebook, it's becase.. I rarely to login now on facebook and focus on mylot to get money and get some earn on it :)
1 person likes this
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
29 Oct 10
I found a few friends this year. And even a ex-boyfriend..I found one through Myspace..that I hadn't seen in over 20 years, then I joined Facebook(friend had FB), and deleted my myspace account(seemed like there was to much drama and I liked fb better). But on Facebook I found a few other friends I also hadn't seen in over 20 years it was awesome catching up and finding all about what has happened since we last seen each other. On a site called MyYearBook, I found and ex-boyfriend I had when I was 15..and wow..he is still hot..lol.. even more so then he was back then. But the MyYearbook that my sister in law had me join wasn't what I had fist thought it was...so I ended up deleting my account there also.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (160879)
• United States
26 Oct 10
I am not on FaceBook at all. I have recently had a friend from High School locate me through a site called Classmates.com, and we e mailed each other one time. I am not a premium member there either. She was one of the few people I would want to see from high school.
1 person likes this
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
26 Oct 10
Someone has found me. My best friend from elementary school. Somewhere we lost touch with each other and she did some investigating and found me and contacted me on facebook. She now lives in Arizona...across the country from me. But I traveled to Arizona last spring and we met for coffee. It was like those 46 years that we had been apart was erased. We email and IM now all the time. I am so glad she found me....one thing though was that we found out that we lived just a few miles from each other for several years...to me that was a waste. I wish we had found each other sooner!
1 person likes this
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
27 Oct 10
Congratulations...great story. I was very pleased to catch up with my friend too. He found me once before after some clever detective work and we lost touch again. Now, thanks to the Internet we can stay in touch more easily. He lives a solid two days drive away...maybe longer.
The other fellow, the one that came to visit lives south of here about 2 days drive and keeping in contact with him won't be so easy.
Enjoy!
@gitfiddleplayer (10362)
• United States
28 Oct 10
I know that a lot of people don't Facebook because it does take away from your privacy but I also have found people that I lost touch with and its been nice to catch back up just to see what they have been doing for the past 20 years. I think that you can be on Facebook but not "live" on it like some people do. Its a good site when you want to find old friends because it allows pics and updates. I'm not promoting the site but its been positive for me since I joined.
1 person likes this
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
28 Oct 10
Hi gfp, nice to see an old friend. Yeah, the privacy thing worries me. The group of people I mainly interact with sometimes use bad language so I'm glad I'm not using my real name because my children and grandchildren would be watching my activities there. I would not be comfortable with my family able to see. The language sometimes makes me blush!
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
27 Oct 10
no ive done searches and everything and still cant find anyone on any of them. except one guy found me on myspace. sent me some class book pics with me in them etc. that id never gotten to see as i moved away before we got them back, way back when i was 15yrs. funny thing is, i couldnt remember him and he has never emailed me back nor spoken to me since i emailed him several times on myspace and private email and he even freinded me on FB but has still never communicated much since. 
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
27 Oct 10
Hi bunny...yeah, I've known about what you mean and I don't want friends like that...do you? Mind you, some of the people I've looked up it hasn't been to connect with them but just to try and find out what they are up to. Just curiosity, nothing else.
@MagicalBubbles (5103)
• Canada
26 Oct 10
So happy you could have a good time with your old friend. I found one of my friends of when I was around 5 yrs old. We spent all our time together until school started and then we'd talk on the phone and see each other on the weekends. Id sleep at her place, she'd sleep at my place. We were like twins joined at the hip. Then I lost touch with her when I went to high school. I just found her after all these years. Its like we had just talked on the phone last week.
As for men I used to know....I kept in touch with one and he went to a school reunion but when he showed me the pics he took there.....I felt depressed.....men dont age as good as us women do lol.
I think its best they remain in the past as far as Im concerned.
1 person likes this
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
27 Oct 10
How wonderful to catch up with your old friend and to be able to basically pick up where you left off. I've had a little bit of success with guy friends but not anyone in a romantic sense or from a romantic past. I really would not want to catch up with any of those blokes.
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
26 Oct 10
Although I have an account I must admit I really don't use much these days. I find it quite boring and uninteresting as people are busy and really do not spend time to share and advice so like you if I really want to get a hold of someone I too try to use my email also as this way I find it is a bit more personal.
1 person likes this
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
27 Oct 10
I rarely visit mine either and acquaintances seem to use it every day for a fair period of time to keep in touch with friends. They seem to do it as a group which I find very impersonal and quite disorganised as conversations are all over the place unless you do a one on one thing or everyone takes their prpoper turn and we all know that never happens..
.
@saqi78 (1402)
• Malaysia
26 Oct 10
I havenot found some one special but I found a lot of my old friends which are now in different parts of the world and in my home town. It is really good to know about each other. But you know face book is really an addiction and if I dont want to use it, I ll still log in and share over there. From last couple of days, I am busy over here so I didnot responded to any thing over there. But discussion with old friends with old memories is good on facebook..
Good day...
1 person likes this
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
27 Oct 10
I'm addicted to myLot but I cannot understand why anyone would get addicted to FB....it's certainly not a place where I want to spend any time. I have a friend who is on there some days all day and well into the night. A couple of old friends I've caught up with are now on my email list and we keep in touch that way.
@djbtol (5493)
• United States
26 Oct 10
Actually, I one of that rare breed that is not yet on facebook. I keep telling myself one of these days. My wife and kid are all on it and I know it would be one more thing to fit into my computer time.
As in your experience, by putting yourself out there, you can be found and you can find others. Nice to connect with an old friend, and a special friend. Don't you think that when we can tie something from our life 'way back then' with something now, it is a pleasing thing and causes us to think and understand more about our life?
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
27 Oct 10
I wouldn't go that far but it was very wonderful to swap hugs with and catch up with my old friend.
You are not alone in not belonging to FB. I'm there under an assumed name so people cannot find me. When you go looking for someone from your past it generally means you care about them.
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
26 Oct 10
Hi MsTickle
I am not on Face Book I do not like the Site lol
I know a lot of People do and both my Son and Daughter are on there but I do not like the Place at all
I am glad you have managed to find some old Friends on there I suppose it is good for that
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
27 Oct 10
Fastbook is a great place to find long lost friends or relatives. Though I am not an avid fan of facebook but do still keep an account there for fun. Through my inactive facebook account my old college friends managed to track me down after 30 years of lost contact. We plan to meet one of these days and probably that would be the beginning of another chapter of our friendship that has been marred by so many unforeseen circumstances since going on our own ways. Definitely, it won't jeopardize my present commitment in life.
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
28 Oct 10
Like you zandi, I'm not an avid fan but I do like to be kept in the loop with a few of my old friends. It's an interesting exercise because FB actually lets you know who your real friends are I feel. If you find someone, make contact, then they ignore you, it's safe to say "Good riddance" I feel but if you make contact and that contact continues then there is a true friend.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
27 Oct 10
Hi MsTickle...yup I know you're over at FB like I am and I actually do spend a lot more time there since as you know I'm very active with my "animal" issues and crossposting to find urgent pets in shelters get adopted. However when I first started my account there I only knew a trickle of people, mainly people I had known from another website. But then I got curious and typed in the name of a person who was like a little brother to me. We somehow lost contact for about eleven years. So I typed in his name not really expecting anything but nearly fell off my chair when sure enough he popped up--we've been in contact with each other since and had a LOT of catching up to do to tell each other what had gone on in our lives since our last communication with one another
Happy to hear you found that person again and I suppose you had a lot of catching up with each other's lives as well...shame you can't "really" connect though in a more personal way
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
27 Oct 10
Hey Pye...yep, we are there together and on each opther's friends list and I can see how FB works for you as you look after your animal issues...
Happy you got to catch up with your friend..it's such a blast. As for me, R and I keep in touch with emails almost daily and a weekly phone call. We have plans to catch up in person in the not too distant future. Seeing G was awesome. We just laughed and told each other how old we looked...lol. Last time we met up was at a party and we were in our early twenties. He's sixty now and I just turned 58. That's a lot of water under the bridge and we had a lovely time catching up.
Happy you got to catch up with your friend..it's such a blast. As for me, R and I keep in touch with emails almost daily and a weekly phone call. We have plans to catch up in person in the not too distant future. Seeing G was awesome. We just laughed and told each other how old we looked...lol. Last time we met up was at a party and we were in our early twenties. He's sixty now and I just turned 58. That's a lot of water under the bridge and we had a lovely time catching up.
@333tangtang (404)
• China
27 Oct 10
Lucky you can find your old friends who haven't keep in touch for years ;-)
well,when we stop keep in touch friends,they would all gone,and we start make new friends,then not keep in touch again,then all gone,,just doing this same action all the time,old friends gone,new friends come....life~~
lucky you that you can use FB,but here in China we can't ;(
I used to have a FB account,but now we can't use it at all,because some reasons.and I know there are easy find a lot of new friends ;-)
enjoy the day
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
27 Oct 10
Hi 333tangtang...how awful that you cannot use FB and keep in touch with your friends. At least you still can stay in touch via email? Right? Does that mean FaceBook is not allowed in China? Is that a political decision?
Oh well, you can make lots of friends here, and keep them. I hope you make many friends and that you have some happy times here.
@maezee (41988)
• United States
27 Oct 10
Hey well that's great to hear! I mean, we're constantly hearing about the drama involved with social networking sites like Facebook, how they break up friendships, and so on..But yeah, there's a lot of "missed" publicity in there. I've "re-connected" online (on Facebook) with a lot of my old elementary and grade school friends - it's pretty amazing! Of course I haven't gone out to dinner with any of them (yet 
) but still. That's so cute!
) but still. That's so cute! @MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
27 Oct 10
Actually, I used to be friends with a group of friends and we chatted daily on a forum board...just a small group of about 30 people who were mostly around most of the time. It was a censored site but many of us had been together for around 7 years. If we needed to share any serious news we did it at our Yahoo group site. Most of these people left and went to FB. Sure, there was an annoying glitch on the board at our regular site and one of the newer members was really annoying but still, about 75 % of the active members went to FB and the Guild was basically abandoned. Many of them actually crossed me off their friends list at the Guild. I figured they weren't the sort of people I could call friend to do that. I still miss some of them and the ones still not on FB and I exchange brief messages sometimes but it's not the same.
