Monday I featured Bill W's recent anthology story, A Friendship Lost and Found. Has anyone else ever experienced that reconnection with a long lost friend, especially in this day and age of social media? How did it feel? Maybe something like below?

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I spun in that direction to discover who had said this and immediately recognized the speaker. He was taller and his hair was darker, but there was no mistaking those eyes. I’d recognize them anywhere, since I had spent so many hours staring into them.

“Gavin Munson is it really you?”

“Damn straight it is, and it’s nice to finally see you again. What are you doing here?”

I was temporarily speechless and didn’t respond right away. I was having difficulty believing I wasn’t dreaming and it was actually him. Seeing Gavin also took my breath away, due to the feelings I had for him. Even before he’d moved away, I realized that I had a crush on him. I might have only been ten at that time, but I was fairly certain that I was gay, although I’d never shared that information with Gavin. He had no idea that he was the first person I’d ever had romantic feelings for, and fighting through those emotions was difficult, but I knew I’d better answer his question.

“Uh, this is my faculty advisor, Mrs. Longo, and she submitted one of my stories to this competition.”

“Then it must be a very good story, because everyone here is about to receive an award.”

“Yeah, I know, so what did you send in?”

“I just submitted a series of drawings. I’m not in the writing competition like you.”

“Oh, yeah, now I remember. You always liked to draw and were really good in art class. If I remember correctly, the art teacher took a special interest in you.”

“Yep, she did, but I didn’t know you were a writer.”

“I didn’t develop that skill until after you moved away. It turned out to be the device I used to express my feelings and get things off my chest.”

“Is that what your story is about?”

“Kinda, but it’s not an autobiography. I merely placed the characters in similar circumstances and used them to work through my feelings. So, what did you draw?”

“They’re just some sketches I made.” He was acting strangely, so I decided to pursue this.

“Sketches of what?”

“Ummm, they’re actually three portraits of you. One is you when we first met, another is what you looked like when I moved away, and the last is what I thought you might look like now. After seeing you here, I’ll admit that I was actually pretty close with that one.”

“Why did you do all those drawings of me?”

“It’s so I would always remember my best friend.”

 

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