And I Never Want to See Them Again
Layla Tanksley isn't typically one to ask for help from strangers on the internet. But for her son, James, she would try.
"I'yard trying Facebook as my last ditch endeavor," she wrote in the Bloomington, IN - What's Going On? group. "If you guys possibly even recollect you know Brody's parents or grandparents or whoever, delight help u.s.a. connect with them!"
When the Tanksley family moved abroad, James thought he would never see his preschool best friend once again. He didn't even know his last name. Merely when Layla posted on Facebook, she was met with hundreds of comments offer aid and wishing luck.
"Maybe this will actually piece of work," she thought. Maybe the community will come together and reconnect the boys.
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Searching for a lost friend
James and Brody met when they were in preschool together at Grandview Elementary School. Later, James often talked near his friend with his parents, Layla and Daniel.
The boys are both in tertiary grade now, and the Tanksleys have lived outside of the Monroe County Community School Corp. district for years. James still talks virtually his friend.
"It was continuous," Layla said. "He'd always exist like, 'My friend Brody actually likes this cartoon,' or, 'My friend Brody used to practice this.'"
Although Layla and Daniel had heard all about Brody, they'd never met him and didn't know what he looked like. James usually just made comments in passing. Merely ane dark last calendar month, they heard him whimpering from his bedroom.
When Layla walked in the room, she found James subconscious beneath his blankets, crying. He missed Brody and so much, he said.
Layla knew she had to at least endeavour to find him.
She tried calling Grandview, but assistants wouldn't requite out any students' names since James wasn't a student there anymore. And then she used the simply other idea she had.
"Mayhap Brody Higgins? I'one thousand non sure," she wrote in her Facebook post. "James tin can't retrieve."
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One commenter suggested she apply Kirkwood Photo, which keeps yearbook photo archives of local schools such equally Grandview. Layla loaded the website on her phone and scanned through the Grandview classes. No Brody.
Only every bit she was nearly to surrender, Layla noticed the website's shopping cart icon was blocking one educatee in the lesser right corner. She looked at the page over again, this time on a desktop version, and there he was. Brody Winters.
Layla raced back to the Facebook comments with the name, and soon plenty, someone tagged his mom, Brandi Stillions — is this your Brody?
Past then, it was 11 p.thousand., only Layla and Daniel were wide awake.
"Nosotros were almost in tears," Layla said, "Like, we found him."
James, who has autism, doesn't oftentimes testify physical affection, even to his parents. But when Layla showed James they had found Brody, he hugged her three times.
'Information technology put a huge smiling on his face'
Nine months ago, the Tanksleys sat in their truck in a Georgia parking lot, on the run from Hurricane Ida, knowing they may not have a habitation to return to.
The family already had moved to Florida twice. When they fled the hurricane, they returned to Monroe County and stayed with Layla's aunt after learning their domicile had been destroyed.
They lived in that location for half dozen months until they were able to buy a house in Judah. James now attends Needmore Elementary School in Bedford.
Making friends has been difficult for James considering the family has moved and so much. His autism and Tourette Syndrome makes it even harder.
Some of James' classmates tease him in school. Maybe they haven't been taught how to treat others who act differently from them, Layla said.
For Brody, though, it was never a problem. He and James became instant friends.
When Brandi let Brody read Layla'south Facebook mail, he said he remembered James. He missed his friend, too.
"It put a huge grin on his face," Brandi said. "He's simply always out to make friends and doesn't see anybody equally any different from him. It makes me feel like I've done something right."
A reunion, with more to come up
When James spotted Brody at Switchyard Park a few Sundays ago, Layla expected a tearful reunion. Instead, the 2 acted how kids ofttimes do — a little bad-mannered at first, then chop-chop behaving equally if they'd never spent time autonomously in the start place.
For three or four hours, the boys talked, ran through tunnels and climbed a stone wall. Their faces grew reddish and their hair dripped with sweat, but they didn't heed.
When the play date ended, James wasn't upset about letting Brody become. They knew they would be able to run into each other once more shortly, and many more than times after that.
"I recognize that things are going to exist different than other mothers and their sons," Layla said about herself and James. "We're non going to become the same lifetime of things … but every bit a mom, you hope that connection volition be made one day. And so to run into that happen with Brody was just really nice."
Contact Christine Stephenson at cstephenson@heraldt.com.
This commodity originally appeared on The Herald-Times: 2 Grandview Simple School friends reunited through Facebook mail service
Source: https://news.yahoo.com/two-third-grade-friends-thought-103301289.html
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