Facebook...

It is interesting how Facebook can bring people back into your life.  I received a FB message from a very old friend from High School and College yesterday. The message was totally unexpected and out of the blue.  The message was short and breezy and it brought back the most vivid memory I had of this old friend.

We became friends when I was Junior in High School and we ended up going to the same culinary school.  She started school in July but I waited to start until September.  She quickly became accustomed to the college life and she started dating a guy right away.  When I started school things quickly went downhill for her.  She suspected that she was pregnant and I took her to a clinic for a free pregnancy test.   To her relief they ended up telling her she was not pregnant.  A few weeks later she made a regular doctor appointment and her suspicions were confirmed.  She was pregnant at 18. 

I think the first clinic was a bit suspicious.  They asked her several questions including whether or not she was considering an abortion.  She answered yes to the abortion question and the test results were negative.  When we left they handed us several pieces of literature that was anti-abortion.  I always believed that this "free" clinic had an anti-abortion agenda and gave her a false answer to the pregnancy test.

She lived her life normally after she found out.  She didn't make any changes to her diet or lifestyle.  She just behaved as if it had never happened and she didn't tell the guy.  She stopped going home for visits when the pregnancy began to show and she made excuses to her parents for her absence. 

There were several of us who were worried for her.  She wasn't caring for her body or the baby and she was in complete denial.  She wouldn't listen to reason or change her behavior.  When I went home for Christmas I was over at a mutual friends house and we were discussing the problem.  We knew she was never going to tell her parents and she was going to be surprised one day when she went into labor.  So...we decided to write an anonymous letter to her parents to fill them in on the situation.

I felt awful about that.  I felt that it was necessary but I still felt that I jumped way over our friendship boundaries.  She asked me several times if I was the person who wrote the letter but I always denied it.  I think she always knew I had a hand it, but as I remember she was never really mad at me for taking that step.  Perhaps she was happy that I told her parents for her but I just don't know.  

After her parents got the letter they immediately made the trek to the college and helped get her back on track.  They got her a regular doctor and made sure she had nutritious food to eat.

All of the feelings of guilt came back to me when I got her FB message.  It made me feel like those events happened yesterday.  I still don't know if I made the right decision but since I cannot change the past I will not dwell upon my actions.

I responded to her message on FB telling her a bit about my life today.  I don't know what will come of this correspondence and I never imagined talking to her again after I lost touch with her when I left college.  Life sure has some interesting twists and turns.  Thanks to Facebook for making this communication possible.