#AdaTIFFmems - How TIFF helps me keep in touch with old friends

I meet people at TIFF and some of them I connect with once a year at the festival, but I also reconnect with people I know outside of TIFF once a year at the festival.

Sue (Susan) is the mother of a guy I was friends with in high school, his name is Mike and we had a volatile friendship for some years and have been in and out of touch since (currently out of touch). As far as school activities went, we were nerdy band kids, and Sue used to drive us to and from concerts etc. She was really nice to me, and I remember one of the things she used to tell us about was going to the Toronto Film Festival.

I hadn't seen her in a very long time when one year at the Elgin she came up to me and re-introduced herself, she was still religiously attending TIFF after all this time. I'm not going to lie, in a sea of faces, hers never seems to stand out to me, I always fear and fret that I'm rudely walking right by her. But for a period, almost every year I would bump into her somewhere during TIFF.

I haven't seen Sue in the past couple of years, I hope it's not because I've accidentally snubbed her too many times.  I'm always hopeful we'll cross paths again.

Another person I can always count on seeing every TIFF is my friend Rick, whom I know from university. With the aide of social media, I have managed to keep track of a number of Ryerson classmates but I confess, considering what a close knit group we were through school, we have not stayed close at all.

Rick and I did see each other after we graduated.  He was a karaoke enthusiast who never missed an opportunity to throw an Oscar Party.  We kept in touch even when he had to move home to take care of his mother, and after he moved back and pursued his religious studies.

We don't get together for movie trivia anymore, but the celebs are still cause to meet!  Rick remains enthralled with his favourite stars and can often be found around the red carpet venues trying to get a glimpse and/or autograph.  The past few years I have come out through the stage door of the Elgin to find Rick calling my name. Just like he would a Hollywood celeb ;)

(I thought I had a more recent photo, but perhaps I was mistaken.  This is Rick and I in 2009)