The Best Gift So Far

I have been searching for my friend Brenda for an entire year. Brenda lived in Cottage Grove, Oregon but prior to that, we used to work together in Tampa where I was an Assistant Principal and she was my assistant. Brenda was a very important person during a very difficult period of my life. She seemed to have this uncanny ability to feel and sense things before they happened and so she would give me very good advice that I carefully followed.

Brenda and her husband moved to Oregon in 1989 and have lived there ever since. She sends me a card every Christmas and never fails to include all the news of her family. Last year, I did not receive a card from her. I sent her a card anyway and followed up with a very lengthy letter in January. She did not respond and I began to get worried. Was she ill; had she moved; what was wrong?

Knowing that the internet makes it possible to find almost anyone, I began searching on the internet for new addresses for this family. I went to Switchboard.com and to Spokeo.com but had no luck. The most I could find was Brenda's daughter's name and so I searched on Facebook for her. I found someone with the same name and sent her a private message but no one wrote me back so I probably had the wrong person.

I called the phone number associated with Brenda's daughter but found the number to be disconnected. I called Brenda's phone number and found that to be disconnected as well. I did some more research, found a new name for Brenda's daughter, and mailed a letter of inquiry to that address. The letter was returned to me stating that no one by that name lived at that address.

Yesterday, Janet came home from errands and said as she entered the door, "There's a Christmas present for you in my bag." "Really?", I said. And out came a Christmas card from Brenda. Oh my gosh, I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to see that handwriting because I thought at the very least that she was seriously ill or something even worse. I read the message and she said, "I've missed hearing from you." So maybe she had not received my card or my letter. It just didn't make any sense.

So, once again, I went to Spokeo.com and did a reverse phone search. I entered the phone number I had for her, the one that was disconnected. The location that came back from the search was an address in Louisiana. I knew that couldn't be right. I must have had the wrong area code all this time. So I looked up the area code for Cottage Grove, added it to the base number I had for her, and dialed. Well, you know it. Brenda answered the phone. She is fine. The family is fine. She doesn't remember if she received my letter or not but has had a year with some sadness in it which she will elaborate on later in a letter.

I, however, have found my friend and was so happy to be able to talk to her and hear it for myself. So it is definitely the best gift I have received so far this Christmas. The gift of friendship and the gift I have been given that I never give up and never take "no" for an answer. It's a great quality to have although sometimes frustrating for those around me.