"Sometimes new love comes between old friends. Sometimes the best love was the one that was always there."

Facebook is a wonderful thing.  Back at the start of the year, my 50th by the way, I received an email (or was it a myspace message?) from my good friend since grade school, Susan Rothenberg Carey, that there was this cool website where a bunch of our old friends from Betsey Ross Elementary and Culver City Jr. and Sr. High Schools were members and that I should join in.  Join I did and it was been quite a ride.  Not only have I reconnected with friends from as far back as kindergarten (Melanie, Dana and Glenda), Jr. High and High School (too many to list) but over 100 members of the beloved youth group that I was a member of in my high school years, B'nai Brith Youth Org.  Those reunions on their own are remarkable but wait -- there's more.  In March, I stumbled upon the profile of my 78 year old biological mother, Anne.  I had been searching for her for 30 years.  Through that connection, I discovered that I have 2 half-sisters and a plethora of nieces and nephews.  Amazing.  The reunion with Anne has changed me in such a profound way, it's if my heart has wings and I've been set free.  The relationship itself has been difficult for me, but it's finding its way.  However, just knowing where I've been has made it possible for me to move ahead and see my past clearly for the first time all at once.  I feel reborn and am so thankful.  Now, just when I thought Facebook had done everything for me that it possibly could, low and behold, I am reunited with a dear friend from my teens that has held a special place in my heart for all these years.  Am I blessed or what?

The picture is of me, this very morning, taken by my son Jonathan, simply to record this day and my smile.  I have always had every reason to be happy.  It has not always been so.  Lately, I am happy.  Happy, joyful, bemused and blessed.  Susan, I will always be grateful for that initial invite to join Facebook and for everything that your friendship has meant throughout the years.  Whether you realize it or not, my dear, you have helped me to find this happiness.  I don't know what the female version of a mensch is, but that is you.