"A Sort of Homecoming" (U2)

I was standing in line at Starbucks when I overheard one of the Harley dudes talking to a young woman behind me. The Starbucks near my house has patio tables outside where customers can smoke and get their Chai on. Every day without fail a group of elderly, Harley riders gather ‘round to talk, smoke and look at the pretty girls go by. I always thought that was a cool concept, having a meeting place “where everybody knows your name.” Maybe what’s even cooler is the fact that these guys don’t seem stressed out about getting to the office on time. I figure they’re retired, enjoying life.

“Yep, I’ll be going to South Carolina to meet up with some guys I haven’t seen in sixty years…” I was intrigued and politely invited myself to be part of their conversation. “Really, I said, I’m going to a mini-reunion myself in a couple of weeks to see people I haven’t seen in thirty years.” He told me that these good ol’ boys were his football buddies. I complimented him, “You seem too young to be going to a sixty year reunion.” He answered, “I’m 76 years old.” I was blown away. He looked great with his white, pony tail, long white beard, sparkly eyes and tanned skin that was hardly wrinkled. The more we talked the cuter he grew and the more excited I became about the little reunion I orchestrated on Facebook.

A few months ago, a friend from elementary school found me on the social network that’s taken the world by storm. We became fast and furious “virtual” friends, joking about our on-line relationship and hoping her husband wouldn’t get too jealous of our time spent on the internet. After awhile we found more friends from grade school and the memories started to flood in. “Do you remember so and so?” “Do you remember this party and that party?” “Oh, he coachs my daughter/son” on and on. So much fun!

As I was planning a trip to the east coast to visit family in Florida, I decided to throw in a little side trip to my hometown. I haven’t been to my hometown since 1988 or 89. Quite a long time to not see family, I know, but luckily living in Southern California, I’ve been lucky enough to have some relatives and friends come here to visit me and my family over the years. It’s not nearly enough, I know and I encourage them all to come out here and take advantage of our beautiful, sunny state.

With a few emails, phone calls and of course an event invitation on Facebook, it looks like we’ve got a full blown elementary school reunion taking place in a few weeks. It’s great to see how powerful Facebook can be in reconnecting people. It’s giving me an opportunity to see friends well before sixty years have passed.

I wonder if Facebook was the instigator in “Harley” man’s reunion. I can’t wait to hear how his reunion went and to give him a full report about my experience too.