When I was a child, my family and I lived in a small town in northeast Georgia for several years. While attending elementary school there, I made a friend named Amanda and we remained friends until my family and I moved away in the middle of
eighth grade in 1976. I was devastated on moving day, knowing that I was leaving my friend behind and there was a very good chance I would never see her or hear from her again. I knew I would not be able to call her because that was back in the days that long distance calls were actually charged by the minute, so I was not allowed to make any phone calls. Amanda and I did lose touch. Although we never spoke to or saw each other after the day I moved away, I never forgot her…never forgot her name, never forgot her face and never forgot when her birthday was! Many years later, when Facebook came along, I decided to search for her. I did find one person living in Georgia with the same name. I sent her a message asking if she was my friend from school. She replied that she was not as her current last name was her married name, and wished me well in my search. Since then, I have reconnected with a couple of other friends from that small Georgia town. I asked them about Amanda. They did not know anything about her, so I just knew I would never talk to her again. A few weeks ago when I was on Facebook something told me to search for her one more time. So, feeling skeptical, I typed her name into the search bar. Was I surprised when a profile popped up and I knew right away it was her—it had to be—she listed our small Georgia town as being where she was from! I sent her a private message asking if she was the girl I remembered. After two or three days with no response, I figured I had the wrong person again--obviously, patience has never been one of my virtues. A couple of weeks after sending the message to her, I did receive a reply and it was her and she remembered me! Since then we have friended each other on Facebook and have corresponded several times. I know that we cannot go back in time and pick up where we left off, but it is my hope that we will continue to grow our renewed friendship from this point. I hope to see her again one of these days, but just knowing that she is happy in life and doing well makes me happy. Thank you, Amanda, for the footprints you left on my heart when we were children and I thank God that He has allowed us to reconnect after all these years.