So I have a list of people who I've lost contact with over the years. I think we all do. There are days that for some reason I think of these people and wonder what they are doing, if they are well, and really for some, I wonder what it might take to just figure out what went wrong in the first place.
About 20+ years ago my uncle karl died. He had ALS. I don't discount the fact that I was off at college so I don't exactly know what transpired. What I do know is that it was apparent that feelings were hurt and eventually our families decided not to see each other. That's the simple story for blog purposes.
Anyhow, over the last 25 years or so I would often wonder about these cousins. And it really sort of bothered me that I could be walking down the street and never know if I passed them, that's how long it had been since I saw them.
Flash forward to last night. I was sitting on facebook, doing my nightly wander through friends comments...and I saw that my friend Jim's father was being transferred to a different hospital. The first person to comment was one of Jim's friend's. She looked familiar. Sort of. Her name for sure was familiar. Sort of. I hoped.
And so I did what any self respecting blog/facebook stalker would do and wrote the woman a note. Kind of a dork to say "hey - are you my cousin" but I did. And she was. And hopefully the rest will just play out...provided she doesn't think I'm some sort of creepy facebook stalker.
At the very least I have a face now to look out for on the street. I know that she has children. I figure I will hopefully learn of the other cousins and their lives and maybe - this small world will be a little richer for it. Because really wealth is not measured by money, but by those we really love. And really to love, it takes a few first steps.
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