Sometimes we lose touch with people we love and care about.  People’s lives change, and distance can take us apart.  But when you genuinely care, you never forget your relationship with them.

Jessica Stuart is a Canadian who lived in a small Japanese town for a year in the 1990s while her parents taught English.  She made a friend named Fukue and after returning to Canada remained penpals until Fukue suddenly stopped writing.  Stuart went to Japan to try and find her friend, to find out what happened.  It’s a sad story with a happy ending.  The fact that Jessica and her family made such a positive impression played a big role in finding Fukue.

I’m still crying as I write because this story hits home for me.  Two years ago as I turned fifty (it was two years since I had transitioned) and my 25th anniversary of graduating college approached, I decided to find important people from my past, friends from college and people from elsewhere.  Tracking them down and writing to them was overwhelmingly emotional, but so fulfilling.

(When it’s people you want no contact with, or they want no contact with you, these things don’t apply.)