After spending 13 years in my small town’s public school system, I moved over 400 miles away to college in Rochester, NY. Over the years, I lost track of every single person I’d gone to high school with (my childhood best friend had gone to a private high school, and I maintained contact with her). Of course, my parents still live in the same town, and like most moms, would give me the rundown on various people she ran into at the grocery store or bank.
Then, Facebook became popular, and honestly, I’m friends with people I hardly remember from school. We all stayed in touch, on a very surface level. A former close friend now does the MS Walk with my family every year, and another close friend and I met up when I went to Austin earlier this year.
Until Mr. Beaulieu died tragically this weekend. The outpouring on Facebook was tremendous, and I felt such a sense of community with these people that I hadn’t really been in touch with in years.
I guess some communities don’t go away – they just lie dormant.
Photo credit: Jen DeCesari
