*** A sad note.. after a few failed attempts to reestablish ties with the person in this article, I have decided, out of respect, to remove all references to her on the site. She had expressed some discomfort in the past with th searchability of her name related to the site, and so, as a sort of last act of friendship, I am honoring what I think are probably her wishes. I wish her well.. and best of luck. The other content of the original post has not changed.***
BEGIN ORIGINAL POST Its true, first off.. although not the only point of my Blog. She is. I’ve acted beside her, directed her, watched her in 3 or 4 shows I had nothing to do with, and she is phenomenal. If you’re about to stop reading, I wanted to make that much clear, and to encourage anyone to visit her site at *******.com, especially if you are looking for a fantastic actress.
If you have decided to stick around, please read on, there is a reason and a rhyme. Still there? Good.. I ran into **** at Batman Begins (EXCELLENT) tonight, and after the normal pleasantries (and me trying and failing to be cool), she brought up the fact that often she will be told by someone that there is this blog that mentions her in sort of a “my high school girlfriend’s best friend” type of way. Turns out its Barnson.org. Its a testimony to the readership and listing power of this blog that this would happen, and it made me think the whole concept of the “Long Lost”
We, all of us, have the list of “long lost friends”, a list on which **** has never before been. After high school, we were not the very close friends we had once been, and really not even talking, and it didn’t matter that we lost touch. When we became friends again, though, it was really a lot different. I have her to thank for getting my acting career started, and for being my first real friend when I returned to Montgomery County. She was and is very dear.
But, like so many, life kind of gets in the way. Its never intentional (although the little lost kid inside always worries that it is), but we get busy, and that coffee date never happens. We get jobs, kids, married (as she did to a really cool guy), homes, We intend to keep it and we don’t. And suddenly its next week and month and year and then, well, there’s that list.
My list, Van Lindberg, Kara from williamsburg, Joey Johnson, Nick from college, Brett Clawson.. the names aren’t important. If you’re reading this you have a list of your own. People you would love to just see and have back and who probably feel the same.. but life allows little room to add the old attachments.
There are powerful tools.. Barnson.org is one.Look at this place, littered with friends old and new, Sam and Matt, two of my first friends in HS, Ben and Tim who I knew better in college through weird coincidences and connections.
Some people you give up on, some you don’t. I think **** is one of the latter (she is, after all an AWESOME actress). Some are successes, like we here, and some you just realize you will likely never see again.
But, for today, if youre reading this, maybe you should take the time to write that email to that friend on the cusp of becoming one of the “long lost” and let them know you’re not quite ready to relegate them to the dustbin. Don’t put it off.
In fact, why don’t I go take my own advice….
(typing…)
The Spring-Flood of Memory
“A gone shipmate, like any other man, is gone forever; and I never met one of them again. But at times the spring-flood of memory sets with force up the dark River of the Nine Bends. Then on the waters of the forlorn stream drifts a ship – manned by a crew of Shades. They pass and make a sign, in a shadowy hail. Haven’t we, together and upon the immortal sea, wrung out a meaning from our sinful lives? Goodbye, brothers! You were a good crowd. As good a crowd as ever fisted with wild cries the beating canvas of a heavy foresail; or tossing aloft, invisible in the night, gave back yell for yell to a westerly gail.” -Joseph Conrad
wow..
beautiful
Wow
You just have to love a dude who can quote both Conrad AND Beastie Boys.
or, the alternate reaction:
[beavis] huh huh, you said “fisted”, huh huh [/beavis]
— Ben
Sam???
Is this the same dude who I played Robotron 2054 against for an entire year at college? 😉
I think most of us are at the age where we can really start to sit back and reflect on our lives, and realized there’s people we knew well that we have forgotten. Kids, work, life takes us away, but until we’ve been away for a while, we don’t realize how fast the time has flied by.
There’s a whole littany of people I would love to hear from: Wayne Hadwin, Angelo Spinola, Jenn Benavides, Teresa Mandich, Dave Brown, etc, etc. We spent times together with wonderful memories, but they were their ways and I went mine. Such is life. Unless you are Sam Graber, Crown Prince of Socialization, it’s hard to keep track of and keep in touch with old friends.
That was, until the internet and blogging came into being. All praise the greatest American of all time: John V. Atanasoff. He invented the first computer (the ABC), which the ENIAC ripped off.
Cross-blogging away My $.02 Weed
–Can someone please pass a t
–Can someone please pass a tissue? SNIFF SNIFF Teresa the Flautist and fire dancer
Wow!
I need a kleenex, too, please! Sam, that was a beautiful quote. I didn’t know you had it in you.
It is absolutely wonderful to have the technology to make our world feel so much smaller. It’s awesome to keep in contact nearly daily with old friends. I know that I don’t know most of you in person, but I feel like you should be right here in the neighborhood with us ready to BBQ! I do know Justin pretty well and I did meet Ben coincidentally two weeks after I had met Matt.
I have a list of my own! The nice thing is, I’ve been able to keep in touch with my closest friends over the years. Many of them have managed to find me after a decade or so of no contact. But there is one amazing friend that I’d like to find. She was my college roomy for two years. Her name is Kelly Stokes. The problem is that’s her maiden name and I don’t know her married name yet. But I’m getting closer. I’ve heard through some old friends that she’s moved to a small town north of my folks in Idaho. So one of these days I will find her!!!
Friends are awesome. And thank you to all of you for keeping in touch with us via barnson.org! Spread the word.–
Christy
Googled
Very beautiful writing I must say. I was just curious because I googled Wayne Hadwin and it popped up under this site. Is he from Louisiana by any chance? Just curious. God Bless and Blessed Be, Ashley’s Mom Forever, Ruth