It is relatively easy to reconnect with an old friend through Facebook or another social networking site. There is another dimension when a phone conversation follows some online chats. In 2009, I wrote a journal entry describing my growing up in Rego Park, Queens. Phil was mentioned as a friend. He lived on Booth Street and 64th Road, across the street from P.S. 139.
I didn't remember seeing Phil after I was promoted from that school in 1961. He said that after one year at Russell Sage JHS 190, he enrolled in Kew Forest, a private school. He went to Wagner College for his B.S. degree and then earned an MBA from Baruch College. He had a few jobs in NYC and later relocated to Denver and then to Florida, where he now resides. I told him of my personal and job histories. I do not want to repeat that here.
We discussed:
- His father passed away at age 44 from acute leukemia
- His mother remarried twice and passed away at age 96
- He married relatively late and has a son and a daughter.
- How Rego Park has changed over the decades
- A few other mutual friends from the old neighborhood
Our phone call lasted about 50 minutes. My experience is that reconnections are one-time events with no follow-up. He has not visited NYC in many years, while my last visit to Florida was in 2015.
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