I know. It has been five days and no vacation wrap-up. What can I say - I have been busy with work, social outings and trips to the gym. Oh, and P.S. I Love You is in heavy rotation on HBO so that sucks up a lot of time as well. Because I apparently like to torture myself.

Anyway, I will work on vacation photos this weekend. The crazy trifecta is spending the night at Casa Magnolia on Saturday so while they slumber I will work on recounting our trip. Here is another picture to whet your appetite...




















In the meantime...

I probably spend too much time on Facebook. Actually, that's not true. I KNOW I spend too much time on Facebook. Time I often think I should spend reading or writing or learning something - French, how to sew, what-have-you. Instead, I get sucked in for hours at a time, catching up with friends old and new, and then feel a bit guilty about the time I fear I have wasted.

But then, something amazing happens and makes me want to give Facebook a big, wet kiss.

In college, my sorority big sister was named Missy. We were like sisters both in terms of personality - she was a little crazy and super fun - and looks. Although this picture doesn't really capture it, we looked so alike that when I used her ID to get into bars, which I did for the first 2.5 years of college (sorry Mom and Dad), I was never questioned.

















We spent a ton of time together my freshman year before she left school to return to her northern Ohio town. She visited Columbus once or twice after that but we then drifted apart. She got married and I moved back to Jersey and we completely lost touch. Before the days of e-mail and the internet, that happened a lot.

I have spent the last 17 years trying to find her. Not remembering her married name made that quite difficult. But every once in a while, I would search classmates.com or our collegiate alumni site in the hope she would magically appear. Just a month ago, I posted a photo of a bunch of us from the house on Facebook. Someone asked if I knew where she was, to which I replied: "I haven't talked to Missy in YEARS. I've tried to find her but have had no luck!"

Tonight, she found me.

I almost leapt off the couch when I opened the alert to learn she had added me as a friend. I quickly logged onto to Facebook, accepted her friend request and sent her a note. And thus ensued a barrage of messages, filled with catching up, laughs and memories. I cannot properly capture how happy finding each other has made me.

It was a nice reminder that my time there is not at all wasted.

By the way, I still have her old ID. It has always been one of my favorite collegiate mementos.

Cripes, I am a sap. I need to go watch some boxing or listen to some Metallica...