Rekindle (Story Blog 1.2)

Rekindle (Story Blog 1.2)

In my previous installment of this story blog, I said I was going to master small talk by reading the book- How to Start A Conversation and Make Friends, by Don Gabor. While I'm still planning on doing that, upon looking deeper into the book I realized it has more to offer than just that. I’m going to read the whole book, and while I'm not going to write about all the things I learned in my blog, I will write about the important parts. Without further ado, this week’s story is about time:
As I have explained before, my high school had an internship program. During senior year, the second semester students become full-time interns. The first semester is all about planning, for the internship(s). It's just a bunch of labs, and group bonding stuff- boring, but necessary. One day in one of the labs, the teacher dropped the bomb on us. “Students, while you are on your internships, you will have to read a book of your choice. I have suggestions in a pile that you can look at.”  As I looked through the pile, I stumbled upon a of copy How to Start A Conversation and Make Friends and choose to read it. I bought my own copy online, and I started read it. However, the teachers didn't enforce the “read a book” requirement because everyone was at different places and reading different books. So I forgot about it, until recent circumstances reminded me that could useful.
When I recently picked this book back up, I started flipping through the chapters and I landed on chapter 14 “making new friends and rekindling old friendships. I read it and a specific story stuck out to me.  The author describes a phone call he got from an old friend. He then describes all the fun times they've had since then, and gives credit to the friend for reaching out. He goes on to say you (the reader) can be the “blast from the past” and that's okay.
My first question after reading was, “Who should I reach out to?” I was struggling with this question for about a week, then my mom did something. I was scrolling through Facebook (out of sheer boredom), and I got a notification. I saw my mom had tagged me in a comment,  so I went to check it out.
The comment was on a post from a kid who was in my childhood playgroup. This friend and I were not too close, but we were friends at the time nonetheless. The link was to a podcast which promoted Never Walk Alone, a Mental Health Organization that he started which has been officially recognized by the Ohio State University. I listened to the podcast and I realized that he experienced a similar situation to me and S.M. (in that, he had a friend who passed away).
Immediately, I wanted to support him and what he is doing through my blog. Then I realized, if I reach out and ask him if I can support him though the blog, maybe, just maybe, it will rekindle a friendship. I reached out to him on Facebook and we met up this last Tuesday (4/2/19).  We talked for a while, and I asked him if he would consider writing a blog for me. He agreed and he will be writing as a guest blogger this upcoming summer (more on that later). I hope this partnership helps Ronnie, Never Walk Alone, and leads to an awesome friendship.

Have a greattastic day

J. Mitchell Ulibarri