A La Recherche d'un Temps Perdu, or What I've Been Doing the Past Month

Forgive me, Reader, for I have sinned; it's been four weeks since my last submission.

I bumped into a classmate from my elementary school, Fleming, while she was buying a birthday gift for the 2-year-old son of another student from our graduating class. The three of us hadn't seen much of each other in the 28 years since we graduated from our little French school, but we all decided to go to dinner and a show, and a few weeks later, we got together for a great evening. Over dinner, I mentioned that, in the pre-Internet days, I'd started a mailing and phone-number list of our fellow alums but that I hadn't gotten very far, managing to track down only one friend who sounded a bit tired and grumpy when we spoke. Our dinner inspired me, however, and when I got up the next day, I immediately started Googling some of the more unusually-named people from Fleming. My hope was that, if I found a few friends, maybe some of them would have leads to others. I also hoped that my sleuthing skills would have improved.*

Nostalgia Orgy
Long story short: I created a Google group for all of the people I found, and we've been emailing each other, like a forum, for the past 3 weeks, generating just over 1000 messages in that time. It's been overwhelming and wonderful, with memories surfacing about old shops, the smell of the science lab, and quirky teachers. These memories are often quite vivid, like ancient murals unearthed and exposed to light for the first time in many years -- just as vibrant as the day they were set down. I clearly remember the candy store where I'd buy penny candies, the social studies teacher with the bright orange hair, and the double banisters along each stairway. Nicest of all is how well everyone is getting along: The bullies apologizing and their victims accepting graciously. It's like we've all decided that we'd like a do-over of certain moments.

It's also been great to find out how people turned out nearly 30 years later. One is an executive producer for a hit TV show, several are professors or academic deans. One is a food writer living in London. One is a professional poker player who has also written for a hit cartoon show. And perhaps most strangely: Despite there being only a dozen boys in the later grades of our school, 3 of us became firefighters! There are plenty of parents, too: My old girl-friend has four kids of her own and is a French teacher. Many of us have submitted photos, and it's been fun seeing how people have changed since adolescence, since some of us look pretty similar while others are barely recognizable.

* About that sleuthing: I used Google, whitepages.com, USsearch.com, 411.com, and Facebook.