The other day I was riding in my car when a song came on the radio.  It was the song Brandy (You're a Fine Girl), and it immediately brought me back to my teenage days at West Milford High School, and my

girlfriend Leigh Ann.  I began to think about all the good times we had, and all the dreams we shared for the future.  She was going to be New York City's top advertising executive, and I was going to be New

Jersey's best Chiropractor.  We loved each other and had our whole

future ahead of us; anything was possible.  That was so many years ago, and it wasn't until I heard that song in my car that I really began to think about Colleen, her best friend.  I wondered what she was doing these days.  Was she married?  Did she have any children?  Do they look like me?  Just the standard "Whatever-happened-to-?" questions.  Having the attention span of a ferret on cappuccino, I had to check it out.  So I hoped on the 'net and started to do a little research. 

The first site I came to is called High School Alumni.  Select the state you graduated high school in, and then find your hometown.  Click on your high school, and select the year you graduated.  You're on your way.  You can add or update your own personal listing, and contact other alumni.  I've gotten in touch with several ex-girlfriends' best friends this way, and it's very easy. 

The next site, American School Directory, works in much the same way.  In the upper left-hand corner of the page,  type in your high school name, and click on your state.  Find your school name on the next page, and you will be taken to your high school's ASD page.  From here you can sign a guest book to leave a message and your e-mail address, or you can send e-mails to fellow alumni.  If your high school has an

official website, there should be a link to it in the upper right hand

corner.  Along the left side of the page are different options, such as: school info, alumni, pictures, map, etc.  I didn't find one for

cheerleaders, but then again, if you were in the band, like me, then you didn't exist anyway.   

The other way to try and contact people from your past is through a

private detective, but that's creepy, and obsessive, so I recommend

trying these directories first.  Nedsite has "The Ultimate 'People Finder' Site Index", and I would have to say, that is fairly accurate.  There's a national e-mail directory, phone/fax directory, name/address search, celebrities/famous person's search, classmates search, military search, etc.  Even a court order couldn't keep me from finding my college girlfriend's e-mail address.   Yahoo! People Search is a very

straightforward site which lets you can do a telephone or e-mail search.  People Finder allows you to type in a keyword, or name, and then searches it's bank of several categories, including Lost Loves, Missing Relatives, Friends, Strangers in the Night, Former Spouses, etc.  Interesting format, check it out. 

These next directories work pretty much like any search engine. 

Bigfoot and Infospace allow you to perform a yellow or white pages search while GTE Superpages let's you do a national business search.  WhoWhere?  helps you find friends and celebrities, or both, if you're lucky.

Although I never did find Colleen, I did find Diane, my college

girlfriend's sister.  I sent her an e-mail and she actually e-mailed me back, although I don't think she remembered me.  As far as I know, I was never president of the African-American Kwanza Awareness Club.  Hey, all these sites can do is find people; there's no guarantee they'll know you from Adam…or Pete…or Jim….       

Find Your Lost Love on the Internet