Blessed Facebook

I am not on Facebook as often as I used to be, but am still there frequently.  Once in awhile, I am very, very happy that I am!

Actually it is not Facebook that I was first happy to be on today.   I received a notification that I had a message on Twitter from Angela.  I was shocked.  Angela was a Brasilian who stayed with us for awhile...I'm afraid that after 10 years of 70 visitors from other countries, more than 20 years ago I can't remember exactly how long.  

She came here determined to improve her English enough so that she could go to nursing school, hoping eventually to get citizenship and work as a nurse.     I remember that she used to go downtown in Davis and talk to people because she was determined to improve her English.  She was another one of those Brasilians who came as a friend of a friend or something.  I don't remember how she happened to come to us, but it wasn't through an organized program. 

I can't remember now how it happened, but at some point she started working for a woman who took her under her wing and helped her achieve her goals.   She has been living on the east coast for many years and we received periodic messages from her, eventually including pictures of her daughter.

The thing I remember most about Angela was what a delightful person she was and how thrilled I was for her that she was able to do everything she hoped to do.

And now we have found each other again!

This is Angela and her daughter.

As good...or even better...than finding Angela today was hearing that she had found Caico on Facebook.  Caico was our second high school student, who came here to stay for six months and study at Davis High.  Caico was such an incredible guy.  He was this total sports nut.  His whole life was sports and he was coming into a theater family.  But, bless him, he had such a zest and enthusiasm for life he was determined to make the best of his experience and learn as many new things as he could. He entered into theatrical activities (I don't remember what now, but I know that he went to all the plays that the kids were in).  He was such a delight to have with us and we were sorry that he had only come for six months. 

At the end of the six months, he was replaced by another Brasilian student who had lied to get into the program (you have to speak English and he spoke NO English).  He was a very spoiled rich kid who was bored by everything about us and made a trip to Disneyland THE most awful trip ever--so bad that I drove all the way home from Disneyland, with no sleep because I refused to pay for his night in a hotel!  

Caico was a tough act to follow, and compared to Caico, this new guy was one of our worst students.  But we loved Caico and when Tom went to Brasil on summer a couple of years later, he connected with Caico again.  And now he, too, is on Facebook.  I can hardly wait to hear from him.

 
There are wonderful things about Facebook, and reconnecting with beloved friends you thought were gone for good is definitely one of them!!