Old friends

I got a nice surprise this morning in the email. A friend I haven't seen in, hmm, uhhhh - Aakk! 15 years, sent me some photos of himself, his dog and his girl. Do look at the larger view, he has such an expression! It's the same one he used in his prom photo 16 years ago.

This Nice Young Man was an exchange student from Germany the year Eldest Daughter was graduating. They became friends and she invited him home several times. That he was very polite was the first thing I noticed about him. His English was very good, that was the second. I found him to have a more mature attitude than most of the kids his age. Maybe I mean he related to adults better.

NYM was also thoughtful. On one visit we had started to play a game of Backgammon on a small, magnetic travel board. It was all we had left after the fire (another story). One die and several pieces were missing so we didn't get to finish the game.

At Christmas that year NYM came over and brought several gifts for the ED and, surprisingly, one for me! My gift was a portable Backgammon game! I was very touched! So NYM slipped into my life as favorite ex-boyfriend of ED.

We exchanged cards at holidays for a while after he went back to Germany. Then I lost touch. ED had stayed friends with NYM and had an email address for him. We exchange a line or two even now. Last time I asked him to use his fancy camera to take a photo of himself. Today it arrived. It just made me smile and I had to share.