My Old Friends The Nicas

Ariel and Carlos (all grown up!!)
Ariel & Carlos way back in the day
(before they left to go back home)

Carlos, Margarita & Ariel (as they looked the last time I saw them)

How cool is it that I am still in contact with my friends in Nicaragua?! I used to work with these people at A & W when I was in high school almost 20 years ago! We had a lot of fun times together for a few years and then they decided to move back to their country. We lost touch for a while and then we found each other again! Carlos is now living in Costa Rica while Margarita and Ariel live in Nicaragua. Just last week Carlos surprised me with a phone call and invited me to go see the family in their country. It was so great to hear from him after so long and it was hard for me to believe it was his voice on the other line since he was only about 14 when I last saw him. He's 30 now and as you can see from the photos, all grown up! I was happy to hear that the whole family is doing great. Ariel is just a year younger than me and has become a well known architect in Nicaragua and lives in a beautiful house. How time flies! I will always remember Sundays at the A & W and listening to America's Top 40 and how we made fun of the songs. I will also always remember laughing when they would bicker amongst themselves and call each other stupido in their spanish accents. Hopefully we will meet again someday in person so we can reminisce about old times and make some new memories too. Until that time, I feel very fortunate that I still have them as friends and even though they are far away, I can always email or pick up the phone just to say hello. Good stuff!!!