It's high school graduation weekend around these parts -- and in many other places, too, I'm sure.
High school was a long time ago for me -- many, many, many years ago, as my 13-year-old son would say -- but I still hold that time in my life very near and dear, and an unexpected benefit of this blogging experience is that it's allowed me to reconnect with some people from back then.
When I started this blog just over a month ago, I wrote to pretty much everyone in my online address book -- including people whose e-mail addresses I'd collected at high school reunions -- to let them know about the undertaking. And though many sent back cordial responses, thanking me for the info and wishing me luck, I honestly didn't know whether any of them would become loyal readers.
Sure enough, though, at least two of those long-ago friends -- a guy named David, who was a year ahead of me in our high school, and a woman named Jennifer, who was in my class -- have been checking in regularly. David often posts comments on my blog -- most recently giving me a good-natured ribbing for suggesting Sammy Sosa has had a steroid-free career, a debate that now has spilled over to David's blog (http://didc.blogspot.com/) -- and Jennifer sent me an e-mail the other day to tell me she enjoys reading what I write.
Also, a woman in Buffalo named Lisa, who I've known since we were 13, has sent along some kind words, and I've even gotten feedback from the brother of one of the drunk driving victims I mentioned in a piece I posted in mid-May. That response touched me the most. I'm sure this man still feels a profound sense of loss, even 26 years after losing his sister, and it meant a great deal to me that he took the time to respond and thank me for my words.
None of this is about ego, mind you. I don't write this stuff in hopes of coaxing compliments out of either friends or strangers. I do it because it's a good outlet for what's going on in my head, it's a nice change of pace after editing other people's work in my newspaper job, and it someday may serve as an interesting record of this period in my life. But if it also helps me get reacquainted with a few long-lost pals, well, all the better.