31 Days of Experiencing New Things - Day 13

About two months ago on May 14th I started looking for old classmates on Facebook.  I found someone who still lived in my hometown that was a possible match of a person I went to elementary school with and I reached out with a quick hello to see if he was the same person that I knew way back when. It didn't look like he was very active on Facebook, with 23 friends and no posts (just the typical set up stuff for people new to Facebook), so I wasn't sure if he'd see it or if I'd get a reply or if it was even the person I knew. I sent the quick hello and forgot about it. 

Today, I got the following message back through Facebook:  "Yep, thats me"

He's married with 2 daughters and was in the Army for 23 years after college (according to his info. tab).  I found myself wondering what happened to all those kids that I still remember from elementary school.  I've stayed in touch with one good high school buddy and really don't have the same curiosity about what happened to most of my other high school alumni, as I have for my elementary school chums. We were all so 'innocent' then, with so much life still ahead of us ...so much possibility. We didn't have a clue who we'd marry, who we'd lose, who would hurt us, how we'd earn a living, what tragedies may fall upon us ... and I don't think we cared. "When's lunch?" and "when's recess" were about the extent of our worries. 

So I went digging for pictures and I found 4th and 5th grades.  To get communication (albeit, brief) from someone I haven't seen for 34 years is an incredibly new experience.  And I haven't pulled out these photos in such a very long time.  Yet, as bad as I am with names, I can look at most of these classmates and name every one of them.  I must have been paying more attention back then ... or somethin'.  I didn't tell this person that I actually still have in an old coin purse somewhere the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Lion token that he gave me 35 years ago.  Today, I got my new experience by revisiting the old.