The thing about women is, we change our names when we get married, which can make it hard to find us. Enter Facebook, and a happy friend request I received out of the blue one day with a message that said, “I don’t know if you remember me but…”

The message was from my freshman year college suitemate and constant companion that year, Teresa. She left our college after that first year, and in that time of no email and no cell phones (such dark dark days) our connection left with her. I never knew what happened to her, but always remembered her fondly.

I wondered if she ever thought about that strange year we spent together with an odd assortment of suitemates and funny things that ensued as a result of that strange combination of personalities all stuck in one small space. She was my sanity that year– the one thing that kept me from fleeing those hallowed halls of higher education. She also taught me to launch spit bubbles off my tongue– an admittedly weird talent that my children find both revolting and fascinating to this day. Someone like that, you don’t want to lose track of.

So thanks to the miracle of Facebook I now know what happened to her. I know that she became a teacher and bought the house she grew up in, a house I visited when she took me home one weekend. She’s married with two beautiful children. I can still picture the two of us– so young, so green– scheming and dreaming about the future (when we weren’t watching soaps and Oprah). It was a future that would include inconceivable things like smart phones and the internet and websites that connect you with people you once knew– a brave new world that looks nothing like we expected but exactly like we’d hoped. I’m so glad I found her in it.

Marybeth Whalen lives in North Carolina with her husband and children. She has written 3 novels with a 4th coming out in 2013. You can find more about her at www.marybethwhalen.com