This Thanksgiving break I was hanging out at my house with my best friend James and his girlfriend Shaquita.

We were all sitting around having a beer and shooting the breeze, talking about life and whatnot.

Then James started talking about all the people we haven’t seen since middle school.

We were jokingly were talking about different incidents that had happened when we were younger and where those certain people are and what they are doing now.

It is funny how people come in and out of our lives like a turnstile. Life is full of changes that many times we cannot control.

It was just strange to think about all the people who may have been involved in our lives who are now happy are sad.

I hope all of you have seen the VH1 T.V. show “Where Are They Now?” Well this is my “Where Are They Now? The Darryl Frierson Edition.”

When I was 14 years old, I kissed a girl named Tiffany at a house party, and my mother caught me. What ever happened to Tiffany after graduating from high school?

James and I used to play paper basketball with a group of guys who graduated with us when we were in middle school. They were the best paper basketball players this side of the Mississippi. Whatever happened to Terry, Michael and Raymond after we graduated from the eighth grade?

Years ago, when I was in the first grade, I had a big crush on an eighth-grader named Dominique. Whatever happened to her after she left St. Francis of Xavier?

In my junior year of high school I had two dates in one night because at the time I thought I was the best thing since sliced bread. Whatever happened to Passion and Erica? (Well, I do know what happened to Passion — I saw her modeling in the college edition of The Source. Not that I am jealous or anything.)

When I was 7 years old I was almost a performer on the hit television show of the mid 80’s, “Puttin’ on the Hits.” Whatever happened to the host of the show?

When James and I were in the 7th grade there was this girl that used to have the biggest crush on him.

It was so big of a crush that if we were any older it would have been considered stalking. Whatever happened to Latonya?

You can see from my ramblings that either I was a troubled child growing up or kind of had a life just like you (and if I did that still doesn’t mean that both of us weren’t troubled youth).

The list of people who come in and out of our lives and who have had an effect on them are countless. I believe all our interactions with people, either good or bad, help shape who we are.

We all have them, and they are liable to happen at anytime. That is the funny way life tries to swing us — the most impossible is possible.

Nonetheless, as you have seen through my little version of “Where Are They Now?” there are some people who I will probably never see again that have given me some of the most memorable moments of my life.

Just think about it. Maybe the person sitting right next to you may give you a memorable experience you will never forget.

Darryl Frierson

is a senior in journalism

and mass communication from St. Louis, Mo.