New Old Friends

Left to right: Sirpa, Sinikka, Seija (baby), and Hilkka

Shortly after I first started blogging, almost two and a half years ago, I wrote a post about my memories of family vacations in Canada during my growing-up years. On one of my last vacations there with my parents...I was 17 years old at the time...a friend from high school went with us.

A family from Finland had a cottage just across the narrow bay from the cottage that my folks rented on Desbarats Lake in Ontario. One day that summer, Connie and I walked around the end of the bay and over to the cottage of the Finns. We spent an enjoyable day getting acquainted with the four sisters: Sinikka, who was about 11 years old; Hilkka, approximately 9; Sirpa, about 7; and Seija, maybe 7 or 8 months.

Linda and Connie, in back row, with Sinikka, Hilkka, and Sirpa

Connie and I thoroughly enjoyed that day with our new friends. The three older girls had fun trying to teach us a few Finnish phrases.

Anyway, when I wrote that post, I included the photo of the girls that appears at the top of this post. I very carefully omitted any mention of their last name, to protect their privacy. However, being relatively new to this whole blogging thing, it didn't occur to me to remove their last name from the photo's file name.

You're guessing where this is going, aren't you?

Last month, I received an email...from Sirpa. Apparently Hilkka had come across their picture on the internet when doing a search on their last name. Hilkka had called Sinikka to tell her. Since Sinikka lives in the boondocks and doesn't have internet access, she called Sirpa and asked Sirpa to investigate.

Since then, Sirpa and I have exchanged several emails. She and I are sisters in Christ, so we've had some wonderful "virtual" fellowship.

I wrote a letter to Sinikka and received a telephone call in response. What a wonderful treat that was. Sinikka and I had exchanged letters for awhile after our acquaintaince in 1962, but had lost contact with each other somewhere along the way. It was just a thrill to hear her voice again after all those years.

Hilkka and I have also exchanged a few emails.

Seija was so little back then that she couldn't be expected to have the same sense of renewed friendship that her sisters might have, but I'm hoping to hear from her, too.

I had never forgotten these little girls and had always regretted losing contact with Sinikka. So this virtual reunion with them has meant a lot to me. They are no longer the little girls of my memory. They are women with whom I can enjoy a sense of renewed friendship.

They are new old friends.