Greetings from long lost...

One of my most favorite things in the whole world, better than hot fudge sundaes and fuzzy kittens, is when I receive snail- or e-mail from a former classmate who has begun a lucrative new career in real estate. These are folks who could barely trouble themselves to sneeze in my direction during high school or college, but now they want to listen to my hopes and dreams and sell me a gi-normous property with a mortgage beyond my means.

How very thoughtful they've all become. Thank you, Christine, for the recipe postcards with your photo on the back. And Jenny, you were very ingenious in the way you used the personal listings in our 10-year reunion notebook to seed your email list. We're all so glad to receive each of your very personal messages, also with your ever-present photo.

And who can forget Logan, the cowboy-golfer of our poetry class? Logan, I appreciated the original text on your postcards, which told your story as a simple country boy from Texas oil country. You really put that English major to good use. And now I'm receiving emails to my work account from another fellow art-major. He's a real estate agent by day, but an aspiring gallery/art program manager the rest of the time. Never been the friendliest chap, until now.

Guess what? I just bought a house, and I won't be moving for a while. And I'm sure not a single one of my friends ever plans to move again, ever. Will you leave me alone now?