Have You Ever Met Up With Someone From Your Past?

[Deleted]

Was it really weird, good, bad??

I talked to someone today that I haven't talked to in about 25 years.  He lives across the country from me... 

I find the idea of getting together in real life both amazing and scary at the same time. 

[zibazinski]

Yes, and I'm still with him!

[Peace77]

I talked with a high school teacher at the first reunion our school ever had.  It was 14 years after graduation.

[Sum Dum Gai]

I've heard that one of my former junior high students is a dancer at the strip club back home, but I'm always too chicken to pop in and say hi when I visit.

[swamp]

Yes. Facebook is a wonderful thing. 

Another example. I had a one night stand with aguy named mike "uncommon Italian last name" in college. Mike was from the city my good friend in law school was from. I went to visit my friend who was working in her hometown.  She said we were going to meet up with her friends from Work, there was a new lawyer at her firm named mile "uncommon Italian last name". Yup it was him. He introduced himself to me and it said, ,yeah I think we've met.". Awkward. 

Another one:  my first year in college I became good friends with "ken". I wine to visit ken over the summer. We partied hard. One guy we partied with was "rob".   Fast forward 20 years, I'm on the county drug court team. The substance abuse counselor on the team is Rob. 

[swamp]

Another one night stand in college. Guy named don. Don is from the county next o mine and is a lawyer. Once in a while we have cases against one another. 

[Sum Dum Gai]

Another one night stand in college. Guy named don. Don is from the county next o mine and is a lawyer. Once in a while we have cases against one another. 

And this concludes why we go away to college 101, any questions? 

[swamp]

But the other lawyer went to another college. He was visiting. And he lived 3 hours away!!!!  Going away doesn't help!!! 

[milee]

Yes, since moving back to the area in which I grew up, I do run into people I knew 20+ years ago and it's sometimes odd.

A few months ago, I met a nice guy and his wife while we were all looking in the small appliance section of Target.  Long boring story, but the summary is we ended up talking and they run an organic produce co-op, so I started ordering weekly produce from the co-op. 

My third or fourth time picking up produce, I realized this guy was somehow familiar.  After more thinking, I realized he was a friend of a friend (can't even remember the friend's name) that I knew almost 30 years ago.  Although I thought he was cute and think he wanted to date me, I was 16 and remember the first time he asked me to do something together was go to church.  Seemed reasonable, I was active in my church growing up.  Little did I know that the church I was familiar with was boring, traditional Presbyterian and he belonged to a fiery Baptist church.  Partway through the service, people started yelling "Amen!" and "Hallelujah!" which was pretty surprising, but not nearly as surprising as when the big curtain behind the preacher opened up and there was a huge glass-walled dunking tank.  Before I could even begin to guess why this church had a huge aquarium, the preacher climbed in with some people and started baptizing them through total submersion.  A little more passion and testifying than I was used to.  Before the last organ note had stopped vibrating, I was outta there.  Never looked back.

But anyway, I'm pretty sure this is the guy.  He's still cute.  Wonder if he recognizes me?  Some day, I'll ask.

[Deleted]

My brother looked up his high school girlfriend on Facebook. Met up with her and dumped his wife of 24 years.

[swamp]

I went to a family wedding with DH. One of his cousins was a guy I went to school with who moved away when we were about 13. I always thought he was cute. And he did remember me. 

[Jake 48]

I would like to, even know where she lives, see the name or family name in the paper once in awhile, just can't pull the trigger.

[mmhmm]

I've met a few in expected places over the years.  Had one odd one, though.  I ran into a guy I went to high school with on the moving sidewalks at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam.   He was going in one direction and I in the other.  He jumped the rail and came running over to see if I was who he thought I was.  Needless to say, I was.  We both had some time before our next flight, so we enjoyed coffee and cake together while reminiscing about old times.  He was a grade ahead of me in high school, and passed away a couple of years ago.  Nice guy and a lovely family.

[grits]

Unfortunately, most of the people I encounter are not the people I liked in school.  I am pretty good at acting like I don't recognize you, and go on with my business.  I do have contact by facebook with lifelong friends.  If I ever make it to Tasmania, I'll get to see one of them.  Most of the people in our little group have dropped off the face of the earth.  The only way people can find me is through my brother.  Now, I do have a lot of contact with people I've met through work.  There is no place in this county I can go without running into some of them.

[raeoflyte]

I ran into Dh's highschool bf that he broke up with to be with me. He had heard about Dh's transition but it was a pretty interesting conversation.

[Deleted]

My friend lives in NYC.  We were high school kids who met on a cruise ship...  I went to NY three or four times to see him, alone, when I was still in high school.  I worked, bought my airline tickets, and went to NY.  Got to go to Rockefeller Center at Christmas and stand at the base of the South Twin Tower.  I still can't believe my parents didn't care that I went...

I applied and was accepted to NYU and wanted to move to NYC.  My parents wouldn't let me go to NYU so I ended up at a state school.

Not too long after the last time I went to NY to see him, my late DH and I got back together and got married.  One of our "agreements" was that I wouldn't talk to my friend in NY ever again while we were married.  Yeah, I know, really mature relationship there.... not....

I have been FB friends with his little sister for years and we talked a bit about their family.  After all, I did stay there multiple times as a kid so we knew each other from then.  We have both had a pretty shitty time of it, and both really seem to want the quiet life.  I'd love to see him again and one of the first things he asked me was if I was coming to see him or if he was coming to see me. 

It scares the holy crap out of me, but I also think it would be great to hang-out together. 

[Sam_2.0]

Ran into my hs boyfriend right before I met DH. Hooked up a couple times, then, just like hs, never heard from him again. Oh well. It was fun Now and then we see him & his wife at the grocery store or something. I always just pretend I don't notice them, and I assume he does the same.

I ran into a girl I went to college with last weekend. She & her husband had just won a scholarship from a local college for their children (their story was on the View last week). We were NOT friends in college. But thankfully people grow up & change, and it was wonderful to see her. We reconnected on FB after that.

I seem to get along with hs & college people much better now that we are all grown up a bit more.

[midjd]

Shasta, I think you should ask him to visit!

Yesterday I was walking back to the office after a a meeting and ran into the girl I used to babysit almost every weekend from when I was 12-15. Pretty random, since our hometown is 2+ hours away.

And not quite the same thing, but the guy who grew up about 4 houses down the road from me ended up going to my law school (waaay out of state). He was a real cutie, I think my mom always wanted us to end up together. He lives in the Netherlands now.

[Deleted]

He expressed an interested in coming for a visit. 

It's kinda weird though because I do have kids that live with me.  That makes things complicated. 

[Peace Of Mind]

Yes, I have!  Two sisters I knew as a kid when we lived in the Philippine Islands.  After we grew up and moved back to the states I met with them when my DH1 and I were in California for business when we were in our 20's.  They looked exactly the same except very, very tall.  One was 5' 10" and the other one was 6' tall.  

Guys I've dated from years ago, that still live in the area, and I still interact now and then and it's always been great visiting with them.   I just talked to an ex after my mom passed.  She used their firm because I dated him and his partner handled her will.  He jumped on the phone when I contacted the partner to ask how I was doing and give his condolences.  Then he told me he was getting a divorce and wanted to know if I was happy. LOL!  He looked like Don Johnson back then and I wonder if he's aged well. 

ETA:  Shasta - You should meet up with him!  You can't have too many friends and if it becomes more than that...   

[constanz22]

Yes, I just recently dated (briefly) a guy I met about 13 years ago. We never dated back then, but he was one of those few people in my life that I had an instant, "cosmic" connection with, that I can't even explain. It was the whole, our eyes met across a crowded room type story and I never even talked to him the first time I saw him, but then found out we had a friend in common who later introduced us. I saw him out for several years back then. He was/is a local musician so he was pretty easy to find. We became pretty friendly and just had this undeniable attraction. Everyone around us saw it, but he had a girlfriend that he had just started dating and we never acted on our feelings. They eventually got married and had a child and I lost track of him for probably 5-6 years. I heard through friends that he got divorced a few years ago but still didn't see him, ever. I often thought about him over the years. Then one day, like fall of 2011, BFF called me, from a bar, and said he was playing there every week. It was right before I was having major surgery, so we didn't go until my birthday that October. He had a girlfriend, but it was still awesome seeing him. Then we lost touch again. That bar closed so I didn't know how to find him. I looked a couple times on FB but he wasn't on. Then early 2012 he started playing at one of my old "regular" bars. It took us about 4 months to get there but we finally went to see him, and it was awesome, as usual. He was finally on FB so we chatted a bit on there, then saw him a couple months later and then he broke up with his girlfriend (NOT for me) but, our first date was 4 days after they broke up. LOL! We waited almost 13 years, we weren't wasting any time. Ha, Ha...but, having said all that, it crashed and burned pretty quickly. It was amazing and awesome, but horrible and heartbreaking all at the same time. Sometimes, I think when you have such strong feelings for someone, just based on a very small sliver of "knowing" them, sometimes once that mystique is gone, things are just not the same. In some ways, he was more amazing than I ever knew, and others, he was kind of an ass. And he drinks way too much. So, in a way, I regret losing that image of him I had all these years, but I don't regret the time we spent together, not really. I would like to think we'll still be friends, but, honestly, I don't know if things will ever be the same.

All that to say, "go for it", you only live once, but be prepared for whatever the outcome may be. It's not always good/happy, but if you don't take the chance you'll never know.

[milee]

Shasta, is there any way he could come out to visit you but not stay in your house?  That takes away a lot of the complication and potential for weirdness with your kids.

Do you have a friend he can stay with?  Heck, even borrow a tent and have him camp in the yard.  Something - just gives you both a little space and time to visit without the pressure of a roomie situation.

[alabamagal]

Feb 22, 2013 21:07:02 GMT -5 swamp said:

Yes. Facebook is a wonderful thing. 

Another example. I had a one night stand with aguy named mike "uncommon Italian last name" in college. Mike was from the city my good friend in law school was from. I went to visit my friend who was working in her hometown.  She said we were going to meet up with her friends from Work, there was a new lawyer at her firm named mile "uncommon Italian last name". Yup it was him. He introduced himself to me and it said, ,yeah I think we've met.". Awkward. 

Another one:  my first year in college I became good friends with "ken". I wine to visit ken over the summer. We partied hard. One guy we partied with was "rob".   Fast forward 20 years, I'm on the county drug court team. The substance abuse counselor on the team is Rob. 

well at least they are lawyers and not clients

[alabamagal]

Feb 23, 2013 7:33:23 GMT -5 milee said:

Shasta, is there any way he could come out to visit you but not stay in your house?  That takes away a lot of the complication and potential for weirdness with your kids.

Do you have a friend he can stay with?  Heck, even borrow a tent and have him camp in the yard.  Something - just gives you both a little space and time to visit without the pressure of a roomie situation.

Shasta....figure out a way to make it work!

[Shooby]

  Yes, i have recently connected with High School classmates that i haven't been in touch with.  In HS, i wasn't really friends with some of them, but after our last Reunion, we have all gotten over ourselves and had a great time.  I met up with one of the gang the other night at a basketball game and went to see my hometown team play.   Actually, the years just melt away which is cool.

[servant_of_dog]

When I met up with my now DH after almost five years apart (we had a six-year relationship prior to the separation), I knew immediately that I had taken a wrong turn.  It was really difficult, but I shit-canned my entire, mostly nice, and very well-established life (husband, two fantastic dogs, and a town where I could walk in anywhere and know someone), to wrench my life back onto the right track.  I didn't think that it would cost me nearly as much as it did (non-monetarily), but it was worth it.

[decoy409]

This is a GREAT thread!



Thanks for creating it as it jaunted the memory.


A few years ago I ran into somebody at the mall.


When I was in kindergarten we had a kid in our class,Carlos. Carlo was in a wheelchair and was paralized from birth. His legs did not work but his thinker and arms and upper body worked fine.


At recess we would all go out as kids do and play. Carlos was always stuck in that chair as the kids were on the swings,merry-go-round and so forth.

One day me and a couple of other kids took Carlos from his chair and put him on the merry-go-round between two of us. And others started pushing to turn it! The smile and laughter from old Carlos is that in which one can NEVER forget as it was Magic!

A few years ago I was at the mall sitting having a drink. Two people were coming along one in a wheelchair. As they passed a feeling came over me and I yelled,'hey Carlos!'. POOF! just like Magic the person turned around and came twords me and asked,'how did you know my name?'


Needless to say our conversation carried on for more than a hour. And that smile from Carlos,why it was just as BIG and HAPPY as it was that day back at the old school.

[mmhmm]

What a wonderful thing to have happened, decoy!  I imagine both your smiles were something to see! 

[Deleted]

LOL, I finally posted a good thread. 

My husband died and I didn't shed a tear.  That sounds cold and callus, but we had a very hard time of it and I hadn't been in love with him for years.  That's just the God's honest truth.

I cried like a baby last night at the idea of seeing my old friend again.  While I think everyone always hopes for a romance made for a trashy novel, I would be thrilled to have him come see me and be able to show him around where I live and share it with an old friend.  But, it's an idea that I NEVER, EVER, EVER thought would be.  So, it is a really weird feeling.

I have been doing all this "self discovery" stuff trying to find my inner pre-marriage 19 year old self and look for clues about what I want for the rest of my life, and it took about 5 seconds of conversation with my old friend to find that inner person.

[Deleted]

Swamp, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with one-nighters in my past!  The name of one showed up on LinkedIn among "People You May Know" and I just about fell over.  (We went to the saem University.)  I did not connect.

I ended up going to my 40th HS reunion after joining up with a FB group of them.  I always felt on the outside in HS; the other girls were flirting and trying out for cheerleading and I was reading psychology books and teaching myself calculus from my Dad's college text.  Of course, the ones who show up at a reunion are the ones who are comfortable with where they are in life so it wasn't a representative sample, but we had a heck of a good time.  I'm looking forward to the next reunion.  It's several states away in a place where I no longer have family, so we keep up with each other on FB.

Another gerat story- early on when I joined LinkedIn I sent an invite to a guy I'd dated briefly in college after meeting him in a class.  It was purely platonic and he was a bit geeky- I may have been his first real date- and we lost touch with each other after that.  He said that his reaction to seeing my name in that e-mail hit him like a jolt of electricity- that for 30 years he'd been beating himself up over losing touch with me and that I'd been the great "what-if" in his life and he'd thought I was angry at him for losing touch..  Crazy!  He was working at a contract job a few states away and came to visit a couple of times.  He's married but I get the feeling they've drifted apart because the kids are out of the house and he's always working in some other state.  He had dinner with DH and me and he and I have also had a couple of lunches together without DH, but with his knowledge and understanding.  I'd say we catch up by e-mail at least once a week; nothing DH would find a concern if he hacked into my e-mail, which he wouldn't.  Finding him has been great; it's good to have another friend, especially one going back that far

So, yeah, catching up with your friend might be fun- just start out slow and in a public place.