Social networking is nirvana to relationship hoarders.  I know – I’m one of them.  I’ve come to this realization by observing just how excited I get whenever someone from my past reaches out to me.  I believe the proper term would be “giddy”.

Many years ago I heard the story of The Prodigal Son and just did not understand why this bad boy got all this attention.  Now I totally get that killing the fatted calf and throwing the party thing.  Obviously this guy was also a relationship hoarder.  It’s like a part of yourself come back home.  It makes you feel complete.  And it also is a great excuse for a party

I recognize that there are two types of individuals:  those who love to keep ties to the past and those who believe the past is the past and let’s just keep it at that, thank you very much.  Even in my own family we vary wildly.  My mother stated to me “Why in the world would you want to get back in touch with those people?”  This is also coming from a woman who still has lunch with elementary school friends, mind you, so I don’t necessarily think she’d balk if someone got back in touch with her either.  I think it just doesn’t feel like finding a missing jigsaw puzzle piece to her.  My ex on the other hand had a hard time coming up with people to invite to our wedding outside of our current circle of friends.  Getting back in touch with even close friends from the past was as foreign and disdainful a concept for him as NOT getting in touch with them would be for me.

I’ve always been like this.  Way before there were computers and we actually wrote letters, I was notorious for sending birthday cards to everyone – even people I barely knew.  I wrote lengthy letters to friends I’d met the week before – and continued to do so for extended periods of time.  I distinctly remember getting back in touch with a good friend after not communicating for 20 years and the feeling similar to that of finding a lost part of me was overwhelming.  If there were fatted calves in the area, they would have been in serious danger of losing their life!

I love the concept that I am tied to people I’ve known and that have known me by this invisible virtual cord.  Perhaps it’s a security blanket of sorts so that I know that I did actually have a past, even if my less than stellar memory can’t always put all the pieces together.  Maybe it’s the old “Sally Field syndrome”:  “You like me! You really, really like me!”  More so I just love seeing pieces of this quilt of life being woven together in front of me.  How else would I have known that one of my 3^rd grade students from Michigan knew one of my corporate bosses from Vermont?  I can’t help but think there are more connections out there that are as yet undetected and waiting to be uncovered.

On those days when life becomes overwhelming and I feel like such an insignificant cog in a massive wheel, I only have to look at these amazing connections and see the warm and wonderful creation they have woven that makes the world a smaller and cozy place to be.  I can’t wait to greet the next “old” friend virtually or uncover another amazing mutual connection.  Bring on them calves!