Blast from the past

This is Jami, an old friend of mine and the daughter of my high school Catholic youth group directors, Jim and Ann Marie.

I took this picture of her in 1983 at a church retreat in Spokane, Washington.

They moved away from my hometown in 1984 when Jami was a 14-year-old freshman. We lost touch a few years later after they relocated to southern California.

I tried tracking them down in recent years through mutual friends and the Internet, but I never found them.

Then a couple of months ago, I got a message from Jami through Classmates.com telling me that they were all living just a few hours from San Diego.Jami was in town this weekend, and we met at the local bar where LSU fans in gather to watch football games. It was our first meeting in more than 23 years.

It was AMAZING seeing her. She's not that bashful, naïve girl frozen in time in my head for all of those years. She's an outgoing, confident, beautiful, grown-up wife and mom of two. The old Jami is still there too -- she has the same sense of humor, the same laugh and the same smile.

I can't wait to visit her, Jim and Ann Marie later this year.