I Found It with Google

In a time of so many online activities that are a total waste of time, there are certain investments I've made in time and effort that continue to pay dividends.

The Wayne Valley High School Directory website has proven that time and again. Over and over, in conjunction with the magic that is Google, the website has been found again and again by our classmates who Linda and I have been too dull-witted to find. I know it's not as though any of us took any great pains to hide from each other (with the exception of a few of us who ended up in law enforcement for personal security reasons). For those of us who have lived in the same place for a long long time, it is hard to imagine not being totally transparent and reachable in this information age where privacy is the exception rather than the rule.

This was especially true for those who still live in Wayne. I can't count how many of you expressed total surprise at not having been located before the Class Directory website. Today, the exact opposite happened. By posting and updating the Class Directory website, we've been found by Bill Segal (in Embers, right above Doug Senchak). Bill called me today, explaining who he was and I have to honestly admit that I didn't know who he was until I looked in the yearbook.

I then realized something else and Bill concurred. In my entire time in Wayne Valley, he and I never exchanged a single word. It's not as though we were hostile or avoiding each other; we were just a little self absorbed and between that and lack of opportunity, we just never crossed paths. In such a large class, I think of how many of us were separated from each other like that. After talking to so many of you, and a little uncomfortably realizing that, I long ago came to the conclusion that there was no fault about which to feel guilty and it's never to start new friendships. I've made many since making my investment in time and effort and I have been spiritually rewarded many times over.

After a few minutes of conversation, once again, it hit me over the head that here was another person who would have ended up a good friend over the years had our paths crossed just a little closer all those years ago. By coincidence, Bill has a ranch in Montana although he lives in Maryland, and we're leaving for Montana's Glacier National Park in less than a week. So, if you knew Bill in high school, don't be surprised if you open your inbox and find an email from him. Conversely, feel free to shoot him an email to renew an old acquaintance or friendship - it's a two way street, after all.

So as we RV across the country to enjoy the vistas in the West, I will let the Class Directory Website silently do its work, waiting to be discovered by a casual Google search, waiting for another one of our "not located yet" classmates. To those of you waiting to be rediscovered, we will wait patiently for you so we can catch up on old times.