Every year around the holidays I go looking for friends I haven't heard from in a long time and or distant family members to shorten the distances to. I usually don't fine any. Though a couple of years ago I started social networking on MySpace and guess what? Nope I still didn't find any long losts. Recently I joined up with the Facebook crowd, and like Kay I find it a bit addictive, a much better portal than MySpace.
Well I was looking Susan, a good friend of ours (Jenni's and mine) on Friday night. I googled the daughters names, the husbands name, the maiden name and the family names and locations in the North and the South. I got nothing a hole had opened in the earth south west of Chicago and gobbled up a whole family. Jenni saw my efforts and felt my pain.
Then while we wee watching the Wild Card pre-game falderal on TV the phone rang. Jenni checked the caller I.D. and said I don't know anybody in Northbrook Illinois as I frowned and thought "Who doesn't know that I am getting ready to watch Football History happen LIVE!"
At half time, when I still held out hope that a defense would be able to stop a 5'6" all purpose back I listened to the message. It was Susan less than 24 hours after all my attempts yielded no results. She was into her cups a bit, drinking wine with her new husband and feeling little pain. She got to reminiscing as people often do around the holidays, and since we are still in the same place with the same last names and the same silly habits and spouses we can be found if a modicum of effort is applied. She left her e-mail address.
I sent a long letter accusing her of being a spy and being aware of my search the day before.
Sunday morning I got my reply, apparently I am the biggest idiot in the know worlds and galaxies. I had been misspelling her daughters names in my myriad searches, and since I knew them by the phonetic pronunciations (and to my defense I know other real life women with the very spellings that I did use) and alternate spellings failed to find out that there is indeed a plethora of info to be had with just a kernal of correct information to form a search. (I kernal as the computer terminology, instead of kernel like a seedling and cliched aphorism fodder).
Susan called just before I went to the bowling alley. Jenni and Susan talked for 81 minutes.
Gotta run, Edgar Cacey and Jean Dixon are on the other lines... holding.
Chuck Pace ©2009 
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