I have always been an inveterate memory keeper. In addition to journals, I kept appointment calendars of the kind where one wrote with a pen or pencil on paper. On these calendars, there are names of both people I do not recall and those I recall vividly because we had a close relationship.
It’s a fact of life that people enter and exit our lives, and there is not always a good explanation as to why either occurs. Whether or not the relationship is a cherished one, it’s a price well worth paying for the experiences that contributed to my understanding of myself, others, and relationships themselves.
Curious to know what happened to some of the most interesting people on my calendars, I Googled them. Some had no presence on the web. Others, I discovered, went on to do impressive things, such as having books published, producing art, working at prestigious law firms, being college presidents, holding high-level administrator roles in colleges and universities, and starting or leading nonprofits.
Some people were still in the same place as when I knew them and, from what I could glean from their online presence, did not seem to be the worse for it. I know I’m certainly not the worse for having spent some time with them.
Gwen Dungy 
I do the same thing and find it fascinating. Part of why I follow your blog.