The year is 1972, and the dorm at the University of Wisconsin is alive. Two dorm mates live across the hall from each other; they had become friends.
These two college friends would live out freshmen year, as they matured into men, on the Madison campus. This is the backstory for what took place many years later in 2015 — this time online. In a world that consists of social media, where a Facebook friend can maybe be an old friend as well, the scene is set for a reunion.
It happens when you are asked to confirm a friend request: the name is familiar, and you ask, Can it be? Yes, in fact it is, your old college friend, so many years later, reaching out, to see what has happened in the last 40 years.
After all, the college brochure states that the friends you make in college are the friends for life. That certainly was true for these two Badger college friends.
For like many baby boomers experiencing similar situations, these two friends rekindled the flame of friendship, now as men with all that has taken place in life. That being career, marriage, and caring for elderly parents.
Now the friendship that once was about looking ahead, now is looking back. But who better to review the life and times of a baby boomer, than to discuss it, with a good friend from long ago.
Baby boomers report that what is described in this story, is part of the pantheon of being a baby boomer. The friend that you have not heard from finds you through technology, and reconnects.
Some baby boomers report that in many cases the curiosity starts the looking, but some report that it goes beyond the email message or the welcomed call. Some report a happy reunion, on that former college campus, where friends get together sharing with each other.
The common bond was more than dorm life and classes, for now it is communication with like-minded people, who are at the same age and stage. Baby boomers like the feeling of connecting, because for many their college days hold a special memory. Thus, to be able to get together and rekindle a bygone era while seeing friends as they are today, is a special unexpected gift.
Our two friends, the subjects of this story, found that when they talked, on the phone for the first time after many years, they did not miss a beat. Yesterday once more, as the saying goes, for these two college friends and many baby boomers like them.
You can read more about baby boomers thriving in this stage of their lives in my book,
"In Search of the Baby Boomer Generation."
Rick Bava founded and was CEO of the Bava Group, which became the premier communications consulting firm serving the Fortune 500 community. Bava became known for his popular blog columns “Rick Bava on the Baby Boomer Generation.” He is the author of "In Search of the Baby Boomer Generation." For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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