But this one was different. It said:

Hello Maria,I have seen numerous posts on this site from a fellow named XXX, I believe that he may be an old boy scout and reptile hunting friend from the mid 1960′s, I would like very much to hear from him again, If you know him or have a way to contact him please forward my email address to him.

Thank You XXX
XXX, Montana
XXX@hotmail.com

Of course, I XXXed out identifying information to protect his privacy.

The site on question wasn’t my blog. It’s wickenburg-az.com, a Web site I started back in 1999 when I really liked the town I call home. (Now, not so much, but that’s another story.) I knew that the person in question did not actually write any of the “posts” on that site. But his name rang a bell and I searched the comments. Sure enough, he was there.

And he’d included what looked like a valid e-mail address.

I forwarded the messaged I received to him with the following preface:

Got this today from someone on wickenburg-az.com. If it’s someone you know, please respond directly to him at XXX@hotmail.com

If this isn’t someone you know, you can ignore it and please accept my apologies for bothering you.

Do these two men know each other? The commenter on my blog has a sufficiently odd last name that it could very well be possible. I may have brought two old friends together after 40+ years.

Maybe they can go reptile hunting together again.

That’s my good deed for the day; I’ll update this if I learn more.

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What’s your good deed for December 21? Use the Comments link or form to tell us.

Since I’ve known Don, he’s been suffering from cystic fibrosis and has been on a waiting list for a lung transplant.

On December 12, 2009, he tweeted:

Just got called in for lung transplant. MAy not b around for awhile.

I haven’t heard from him since.

I don’t know Don well enough to call him at home, but I did e-mail him several times. I’ve heard through another Twitter friend and a Facebook group that he’s home from the hospital now, recovering.

Today’s good deed: I sent Don a box of homemade cookies, including some shaped like a helicopter. I think they’ll make him smile and realize that he’s got friends out on the Internet waiting to hear from him again.

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What’s your good deed for December 18? Use the Comments link or form to tell us.