To Reconnect or Not

Over the years I have reconnected with people that I knew back in different eras of my life.  Sometimes I have spoken with them over the phone and even met them in person.  From time to time I think of people and either "google them" or look them up on Facebook.  It is relatively to find people with unique names such as mine.  When I do find someone, I must make a decision whether or not to reconnect. 

I think back to how the relationship ended.  Very often friends graduate from the same school and move on and lose touch.  In those cases I am usually amenable to reconnecting at least electronically.  Most of these reconnections are brief.  I have found a few women whom I dated over 35 years ago.  I have chosen not to contact them.

Occasionally an interpersonal relationship ends on a very bitter note.  I am specifically thinking of JB whom I knew when I lived in central New Jersey in the mid 1970s.  We had an argument and he sent a "Dear John Letter" when I was really down in the dumps and needed all the encourgement that I could get.  I saw his profile on Facebook with a photo of him sitting next to a young couple with a baby.  I must assume that he became a grandfather.  I will not try to reconnect with him under any circumstances.