Tommy? Is that you?

The e-mail arrived 10 days ago with a mysterious subject line: an old, old friend?

you may not remember me....esp. if you aren't the george rede from decoto (union city), calif.

but if you are, we were good (best?) friends in kindergarten/1st at decoto elementary....

i lived on 7th street....think you lived on 5th/6th....who knows now....

anyway, am enjoying your blog and just wanted to say hey....

And just like that, I was transported back to a time when Tommy Nunez and I were indeed best friends. A time when I was 6 or 7 years old, missing a tooth or two and loving things like playground kickball, the corner grocery store where I bought candy, the freedom to ride my bike or walk anywhere in our neighborhood of working-class Chicano families. (It would be another three years before my first kiss -- a quick peck on the cheek of the 4th-grade bronze goddess Stella Gonzales).

Tommy and I parted ways when one of us moved away from Union City. I was in 5th grade when we moved to Fremont (I honestly can't remember if his family moved before or after mine) but I do remember feeling crushed at the loss of my best friend. In any case, we never saw each other again, though I do remember a time as a prep sports writer for my hometown newspaper when I noticed a familiar name on the soccer team at a rival high school -- and, yes, it was Tommy. I ran cross country and track, so we never competed in the same sport.

After all these years, how did he track me down?

Simple, he wrote: "the all-powerful google....was feeling nostalgic the other day, when i do, i run
old friends thru google, if i can remember their names at this point....one of the entries was for 'rough and rede', and there is a picture, and the picture kinda looked like you...so there ya go. "

These days, Reunion.com, MyLife.com and Facebook are among the many social networking sites that make it easy to get in touch with long-lost friends, classmates -- even relatives. I've never been attracted to either of the first two; unlike my social butterfly wife, who still gets together with lifelong friends from San Francisco, I've maintained only two strong friendships from high school.

So it was gratifying to hear from Tommy and appreciate the amazing reach of Google. Like anything else, the combination of a few keystrokes and mouse clicks can transport you anywhere in the virtual world, from the workplace to the blogosphere, from familiar to the never-been-there, from the present to your past. (Decoto Elementary, by the way, is now the home of New Haven Adult School and Union City itself is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.)

Even more gratifying? To hear that Tommy -- he's Tom now -- is doing well, living in the Bay Area and working from home for a high-tech company. He and his Significant Other have three kids, one married, and are expecting their first grandchild in October.

Turns out his S.O. has relatives in Oregon, and they've been up here a few times. Needless to say, I hope their next trip up here -- or our next trip down there -- allows us to get together. Trading childhood memories and catching up on everything since then would be so cool.

Until then: "take care, dude."