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The Quick and Easy Way to Connect with Old Friends
04/22/08 - 04:47 PM
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(ARA) – Ever stopped to wonder what life might have been like had you married your high school sweetheart or stayed in touch with the friends you had back then?

In high school, Brenda was in love with a young man named Bart. He even proposed to her and they were excited to start planning their lives together. But the youthful enthusiasm hit a snag when Brenda learned she was pregnant.

As much as Bart wanted to keep the baby, Brenda’s parents had other plans. Brenda finished out the remainder of her pregnancy at a home for unwed mothers. Brenda’s parents didn’t let Bart know her location.

In the end, the couple had a baby boy and Brenda convinced Bart to sign the adoption papers, despite his protest. “We both wanted the baby, but Bart was the one who really wanted to make a life out of it. We were just so young.”

After they gave the baby up for adoption, the stress and complications of the situation took their toll and Bart and Brenda fought a lot. They decided to break up and go their separate ways.

Both married other people, had children and divorced. Bart tried for several years to contact Brenda but didn’t have any luck. Finally in 2003 he registered with Classmates.com, a Web site with 50 million members where friends from school, work and the military can connect and stay in touch with one another. “I couldn’t believe I finally found my Brenda!” said Bart.  

“I was so shocked, I just screamed ‘Oh my God!’ out loud,” says Brenda when she received his e-mail. They exchanged updates on where life had taken them and began to talk on the phone every day. In January 2004 Brenda visited Bart for ten days. Hoping to find their son, they drafted a letter to be mailed through a mediator, but fate stepped in first.

While Bart was at work, Brenda had lunch with an old friend and stopped at a car dealership where she began talking to a saleswoman. Brenda shared that she was in town looking for her son. After a string of questions, she found out that the woman’s cousin had the same birthday and matched other details of the son she gave up for adoption.

After exchanging photos and with the blessing of his adoptive parents, they spoke on the phone for the first time with their son, Andy. Shortly after, they arranged a meeting and were able to see the man that their son had become. “It was just incredible,” Brenda says.

Bart proposed to Brenda and today the couple is happily married and have another child together, a daughter. Andy was even able to be there when his sister was born, on Brenda’s birthday.  Bart and Brenda asked Andy to choose a name for his sister, Madisyn. After many years, and many bumps in the road, their family is complete.

Internet services for keeping up, and even reconnect with friends, romantic partners or “might-have-been” boyfriends/girlfriends are becoming an increasingly popular.

“We receive a lot of e-mails from members who tell us real-life stories of how they’ve rekindled an old flame or found new love with an old friend through Classmates.com,” says Steven McArthur, President of Classmates Online Inc. “Reconnecting with someone you’ve known is special because your shared experiences are timeless, so it’s never too late for a second chance at friendship, romance or even love.”

Like Bart and Brenda, you can go online to www.classmates.com and register for free to keep up with friends from throughout your life.  You may even rediscover friendships that can positively enrich your life today.  And because your personal contact information is never revealed unless you decide to share it, it’s a safe and easy way to get and stay in touch with people you care about at your own pace.

Courtesy of ARAcontent
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