Do you agree with the “Six Degrees of Separation” theory? If so, I’d like to try something. Will you help me? It’s easy.
I would like to make this post go viral, not for blog traffic, not for comments or readership or any other reason like that, but because I genuinely would like your help in finding my very best childhood friend. A girl I grew-up with and lost touch with in the whirlwind of moves my mother was constantly making. If we blast this out there via all of our social media channels I am confident we will succeed.
How Can We Not?
I have a lot of detail I can provide to help , but sadly I do not have a scannable image to post. The only picture I have of her anyways is an old grainy Polaroid from my 5th birthday where she is partially visible.
If we think of this like Kevin Bacon‘s “Six Degrees of Separation” I am confident together, WE can find her.
Are Ya Up For The Challenge? I Hope So!
Here are the details to help start triggering any memories you or someone you know may have that can help lead me to my friend.
NAME: Kimberly (Kim) Ann (or Anne?) Lakin (also went by last name Parks). These were maiden names. If she married — which is likely, I have no idea what her married name may be.
AGE/BIRTHDAY: Kim was a year older than I, but in the same grade as I. She’d had appendicitis and ended up getting held back a year (which is why we were in the same grade). I was born in April of 1968 so, she was born in 1967, but I cannot — for the life of me, remember her birthday
SIBLINGS: Although it is possible she had more siblings after we lost touch, all the years that we were friends as children, she only had one younger brother named Scott Edward Parks (we called him Scottie), who was the same age — or very close to the same age, as my younger brother. I am guessing Scott was born in approximately 1970-71. At the time, he was on the shorter side, but this was long before puberty days so he could be 8′ tall now for all I know however their mom was very petite so he may still be “short” as an adult.
PARENTS: Kim’s mom’s name was Shari Patrice Parks…Also worth noting, Shari was quite a tiny woman, dark hair (almost always short). At one time, she was a court reporter….(I have reason to believe from online searches that Shari possibly died in 2005) Shari was married to Gene Woodrow Parks, which I do not believe was Kim’s real father, but her step-father. I think he may have been her brother Scott’s real dad, but I am not positive. At one point, I remember Gene was a dog catcher.
Here is Gene’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/gene-parks/72/993/95b
OTHER FAMILY: Kim had an aunt name Lori (Laurie, etc). She was Laurie Parks when i knew her and was Gene’s sister. She was a hairstylist. Obviously Kim had other family members, but these are the only ones I can remember.
BORN IN: If I remember correctly, Kim was born in Arkansas and still had had family there (maybe grandparents..?).
RAISED IN: The whole time Kim and I were friends she and her family lived in one house or another in Littleton, Colorado.
ANIMALS: I know this is an odd detail to add and although they had several pets during our years fo friendship, there is one that I specifically remember and that was a HUGE pure white Angora cat named, “Sam”. I only remember this cat because he HATED music and attacked me one day when I came out of Kim’s bedroom after we had been in there singing and playing instruments.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: In elementary school we went to South Elementary in Littleton, Colorado. The school is still there however, they have since changed their name to Moody elementary. If she remained in Littleton, CO she would have probably gone to Goddard Middle School and Heritage High School (or maybe it was called Centennial High School)…I think and would have graduated in ’86.
I Found This…This IS Her Family
Let’s Do This! Ready, Set…GO!
So those are the details. I do think they are enough to find her and I think she would be happy about this and would also be interested in reconnecting. Although we were young, our friendship was that of sisters. Our parents were great friends, which is how we met and we basically grew up in each other’s home.
Yes, I could dole out a bunch of money using all of those paid sites and maybe get lucky, but why would I want to do that when I have direct access to YOUR help? My gratitude will be immense. Thank you in advance.
Happy sharing and hunting my friends. I love you all for this! If we find her, I promise I will do a killer post about this whole effort.
DAY #22 Of NaBloPoMo, BlogHer, and NanoPoblano …
Grab a CheriSpeak Badge if You’re so Inclined…
Reblogged this on On My Front Porch and commented:
Here is hope that Cheri finds her long lost childhood friend…
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Thank you Bren! I KNOW we can make this happen. I have no idea why I didn’t think of this before! I so appreciate your help. Let’s rock this.
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You are welcome Cheri, I have Tweeted, Facebooked and Google Plussed your appeal. Hope you find her soon.
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Me too…I have found her dad on LinkedIn, but I cannot message him without knowing his email address there…GRRR
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Pingback: Help Me Find My Friend? | Crow Arrow, Inc.
Thank you!!!! Here we goooooooooooooooooo!
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I hope you find her. I may have to try this to find an old friend of mine. Excellent idea.
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Thank you. PLEASE use the share buttons and help me get this out there. I will do the same for you! I miss this girl, we were so close and went through a lot together.
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I’ve hit the share button for you. Also, I have a friend from when I lived in Philly whose last name is Parks. It’s a long shot, but I sent her a link to this post. Good luch!
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Thank you!!! Ya never know Dave…right?
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Hey. I’m Dave’s friend, Mary Parks. Unfortunately, I don’t have any mid-west family, as far as I know (although, my Parks connection is through my mom and (maternal) grandmom…and my maternal granddad left at one point, but I think that branch of the family stayed East Coast as far as I can tell.)
I’m pretty good at digging up info, tho, so I’ll see if I can find anything. Best of luck with your search!
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Thank you Mary!!! i really appreciate any help. I found her dad’s LinkedIn account, but I only have the free version so it won’t let me contact him LOL. GRRR
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I’ve gotten emails about a free month of Linked In Job Seeker Premium. What about trying that? BTW, I tried the link you posted for the LinkedIn profile, but it doesn’t work?
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I believe I still have to put a credit card in to activate that and I have no credit cards LOL …I just tried the link, it worked for me..? http://www.linkedin.com/pub/gene-parks/72/993/95b
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Ah, yeah – you still have to enter CC info for the trial. I would do it, but I’m afraid I’d forget to cancel and I can’t afford to do that (I’m a freelance graphic designer, with emphasis on the “freelance” :-))
This is what I get when I try the link:
“Profile Not Found
We’re sorry, but the profile you requested does not exist.
LinkedIn users have access to advanced people search functionality, including search by last name only, find similar names, as well as search by company, industry and other keywords.”
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Yes I hear ya Mary, I am a full-time freelance writer so I feel your pain LOL
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Did you try facebook? Or yearbooks for Littleton High School? Just wondering…how about whitepages.com?
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Yes I have looked on FB…I want to avoid using paid services though so “no” on the others.
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Ok, I will keep a look out!
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no no no…we already found her 🙂 !!! Lookie! https://cherispeak.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/omg-we-did-it-like-for-real/
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I just read your post! Woo Hoo! Congrats to you!!!
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reblogging on myownheart.me and on face book…heres hoping you get results.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
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🙂
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Reblogged this on myownheart.me and commented:
LETS HELP CHERI FIND HER FRIEND
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Swinging by from NaBloPoMo, but think it’s a great idea and wish I’d thought of it myself. Either way, I’ll try to reblog and post a link to my blog’s FB and my personal FB accounts 🙂
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Thank you, very much appreciated…and hey YOU can do it to and I will help you if you do. I totally feel this is going to work!! 🙂
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Woo Hoo thank you!!
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Look for this mornings post!! 😉
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Pingback: OMG We DID It! Like For Real! | Cheri Speak
We found her! https://cherispeak.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/omg-we-did-it-like-for-real/
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