Blasts from the past

I joined Facebook a few months back and since that time, I've been catching up with people I haven't seen, or honestly even thought about, since high school. It's pretty neat. Who would have thought that I'd be in conversation with someone I knew about 15 years ago? It's a shocker to hear from someone who is now married and has children...when I haven't seen them since they were at least 12, 13 or 14 years old!

A little history on where I grew up:
We moved to Thomasville, AL when I was in 2nd grade..it was about the middle of 2nd grade, so I think I was 8. We had moved several times already, so this move was nothing special. It was, however, the smallest little place we had ever lived! The town's biggest action was at the TG&Y (now I think the best action is at Wal-Mart), and that's really saying something. Thomasville is in the southwest section of Alabama, deep in the heart of the Black Belt. Logging is a big industry down there, and my Dad worked at the paper mill, as did many folks. Anyway, there were only a few churches in town, so most of my friends and teachers went to my church. A lot of my teachers sang in the choir with my Mom, so I didn't do much without my parents finding out about it.
I had a good time growing up in Thomasville, albeit a little bit of a boring and sheltered life. I had easily identified it as "home", though, so it was traumatic for me when my parents broke the news that they were moving. Thankfully, I was in college already and had some friends from Huntsville, so I'm very fortunate that this is where I developed roots after college.

The thing about it, though, is that since I never really returned to T'ville after college (or during), I never saw some people ever again. Therefore, I've frozen time for some people. They are still 10 years old to me. So, it comes as a big shocker when I now see photos of them much older and even with little kids of their own. It really ages me! All in all, though, it's pretty neat to see that people are still doing well and have definitely succeeded in life. Thomasville, AL grew some good ones, and for that I'm very thankful.