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Childhood friends last a lifetime!



Unlike my four crumbcatchers, my family and I moved around when I was little. In the middle of grade school, we moved to a different home; in high school we must have moved twice; and then right after College I traveled thousands of miles away from the Philippines and landed in California!

With the help of technology, especially the internet, my kids will always keep in touch with their childhood friends! Plus everyone just lives in the same neighborhood. You see them all grow from nursery to college!

Most of my “growing” up years were before the internet. Yes, can you believe it? No Blackberry, no Facebook, no MySpace, no Twitter, no YouTube, no Yahoo Instant Messaging and no email! Can you imagine a life without these conveniences (or annoyances?)

I remember writing snail mail to my college friends when I first got here from the Philippines. Sometimes the mail took a month to get from US to Manila. So the news is no longer news! And every Christmas when a Christmas card is “returned to sender”, it breaks my heart knowing I have a friend who I will lose connection.






With Facebook, I finally got connected with my friends from high school and college! Friends I have not spoken to in three decades! I’m not easy to search since I made sure I limit my exposure. But once I connected with someone in High School, the gates were open to reconnect with my grade school friends!

The past few days and nights, many hours were spent catching up on friendships put on hold! Thirty-four years of incognito are all now available for me to see and share through the photographs and albums of events and memories.

Childhood friends are special. Even when photographs seem like “black-and-white-civil-war-like” as my kids commented, the power of friendship can withstand decades of absentia. Reminiscing the childhood I once had gives me the focus and direction that will lead me to the new chapters in my life! (Hurray! Another birthday coming up in July!)

This summer, I’ll be visiting the Philippines and will stay there for over three weeks. It’s the longest I’ve been away from my husband and kids. (The only times my husband and I were ever away from each other were when I go to the Philippines. It’s corny but my husband and I just enjoy waking up to each other’s morning smile!). I'll be bonding with family members, special events to attend to and catching up with some old friends. Seems like a long time away from home, and yet seems not too many days to bond with families and friends from afar.


Wish everyone is just minutes away…or better yet, I wish I can just teleport! (no 12 hour time difference and no 20 hour flights! I can't even easily visit families within the state or swing by families/relatives in another state!)

As my cousin noted earlier on today, “G-d writes straight in crooked lines!” .

A toast to life – friendship, family and love!

A friend is celebrating her 40th birthday this month, Lori of "When We Listen" . Wishing her the best!



Any clue what this is?
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Comments

  1. BuckeroomamaJune 2, 2010 at 10:20 PM

    Was that you? Were you in Assumption? :) Yes, FB is great for keeping in touch with friends from high school (grade school even!) --especially when you're living oceans away! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. BuckeroomamaJune 2, 2010 at 10:20 PM

    Wait! Sorry, I think that's St. Scholastica... am I right? :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. RCUBEsJune 2, 2010 at 10:21 PM

    Awesome that you found friends from the past! I know the kind of friendship we have from back home. May you have a wonderful time come summer vac. God bless you and protect you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. GottaLoveMomJune 2, 2010 at 10:26 PM

    @Buckeroomama, Yup, I'm a Kulasa :)
    @Rcubes, Pinoys (pinays) are definitely friends forever. Thank you for the prayers.

    ReplyDelete
  5. More Than WordsJune 3, 2010 at 12:00 AM

    I know what you mean about FB! I've reconnected with so many people from grade school. It's fantastic!!

    What a blessing if you get to see them in the Philippines too!

    ReplyDelete
  6. JessicaJune 3, 2010 at 8:38 AM

    That's so cool that you were able to reconnect with friends from your past! Yeah, facebook and other social media sites are great in that way! I have even heard of people using those sites to find long lost family members, which is also cool!

    I found your blog through the MBC follow me club. I am now following!

    I am new at this blogging thing and am in need of new followers, so please follow me as well.

    You can find me at:
    http://mommyhoodnextright.blogspot.com

    Thanks,
    Jessica a.k.a. Nya's mom

    ReplyDelete
  7. GottaLoveMomJune 3, 2010 at 10:32 AM

    @Alicia - yup, pretty exciting.
    @Jessica - thank for the visit and good-luck. I'll swing by your site..

    ReplyDelete
  8. LoriJune 3, 2010 at 1:00 PM

    What a wonderful post!! So great to remain/catch up with & keep good friends forever!!
    Thank you for your birthday wishes!

    Lori

    ReplyDelete
  9. Veronica LeeJune 4, 2010 at 2:07 AM

    I know exactly what you mean about FB, Jenjen!!

    FB rocks!!

    Happy Friday, dear sister.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Felicia KramerJune 4, 2010 at 10:01 AM

    Hi Jen,
    I'm so happy you're going to the Philippines this summer! It will be hard to be away from the family here, but you NEED to fill your heart with the family there. So good!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Annette PiperJune 4, 2010 at 7:05 PM

    How wonderful that you are finding and keeping in touch with old friends! I don't do it as often as I should.

    ReplyDelete
  12. GottaLoveMomJune 4, 2010 at 7:46 PM

    @Lori, Happy Birthday!
    @Veronica - I might have to do an FB detoz soon!
    @Annette, it is a great feeling connecting with old friends again.
    This month seems like my friendship month!
    Take care :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. GottaLoveMomJune 9, 2010 at 9:13 AM

    @Felicia, I am so excited! I'll be with my family and get to see my friends, too! THanks for stopping by!

    ReplyDelete
  14. echeck gamblingMarch 28, 2011 at 2:37 PM

    Your phrase is magnificent

    ReplyDelete

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