Reviving Old Friendships
6 May 2006When I was 15/16, I had a friend called Jake. He was one of my best friends. He was four years older than me. We used to get boozed together (although usually he got IDed and denied and I’d get in, surprisingly). He taught me which bars would let underage drinkers in, where I could buy $10 kamikaze shakers, and how to stay warm at the train station when you’d missed the last train (newspapers). He was my one of my 6th Form photography subjects, my buddy, and my confidant (and possibly a bad influence [not really]).
Before I turned 17, he moved to the deep south (Otago). I didn’t see him while he studied at university, I didn’t see him when he met his massively long-term girlfriend, I didn’t see him before I left New Zealand. In fact, the last time I saw him was 1996. We tried to stay in contact over the years, but lost touch over the last four or five years.
Last night I was thinking about Jake. So I Googled his name and found an email address that I thought could possibly belong to him, even though it was for a person that was living in Wellington when the last I heard he was living in Dunedin. So I sent an email late last night. Today, when I got home from my day of interviews, I opened up my email client to find an email from him confirming that yes, I had actually found him and how the fuck did I manage to do so. We emailed back and forth and decided to meet up for dinner and drinks tonight.
We talked about what we’d each been doing for the past ten years. We reminisced about people we were friends with ten years ago who’s real names we can’t remember but who had nicknames such as Splat, Crumpy, and Skinner. We talked about meeting up again.
In short, it was fucking awesome. Jake is a wonderful person whom I have missed for ten years, and by chance happens to be again living in the city that I also happen to be living in again, and whom Google magically brought us together again. Google, I thank thee!
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Comments
yeah for the past few years i’ve been a kick trying to find long lost friends, and thru google and myspace i’ve managed to find quite a few. i keep a missing persons list online, just in case anyone googles their name…they might find me looking for them! it’s worked a few times! i’ve actually crossed names off my list! You should try it!!
Yeah I randomly decided to do that recently with someone i hadn’t spoke to in a couple of years and it was a good idea, not as long as you guys though! There’s a lot of people I just don’t think would be too interested nowadays but you guys had a great history which is awesome!