Social media reunites long lost friends after 12 years: 'I need to see how she's doing now'

Sometimes, we connect with someone so instantly that it feels almost surreal. Many friendship stories have no particular reason or common ground for two people to bond well. All that matters is how strong the friendship grows, irrespective of whether friends stay in touch. One such amazing friendship story made its rounds on the internet a few years back. Brianna—who goes by @briannacry on X (previously Twitter)—a childhood picture of her and her friend, Heidi, from 2006, asking the users to help her find the girl. What happened next made people realize the power of social media.

In 2018, Brianna posted on X, writing, "Hey Twitter, I met this girl on a dinner cruise in Hawaii in 2006. We were basically best friends for that night, so I need y'all to help me find my best friend cause I miss her and I need to see how she's doing now. Please retweet this so we can be reunited." Below was a picture of the two girls posing adorably for the camera, all dressed up to match the Hawaiian vibes. To Brianna's surprise, the tweet blew up overnight and she added to the thread jokingly, "This was at 9 retweets when I fell asleep. So I'm looking for a husband as well, so y'all can try to find him too while y'all search for girly. Thanks."

Thanks to the retweets and boosts, Brianna's post reached Heidi (@adelheid_jpg) in just around 11 hours. Responding to Brianna, Heidi posted a reply saying, "Heard you were looking for me." Since many were already claiming they were the long-lost best friend, Heidi confirmed it with a picture of her holding a family photo from her Hawaii trip in 2006. Her response went instantly viral on social media just like Brianna's tweet and people were going crazy over the unexpectedly quick reunion.

"Damn Twitter bringing people together, we need to see a reunion picture," commented @txcdx. "You know that to make all our lives complete in this search, you guys got to go on that same cruise again, in this era. I’m not crying, all of YOU are crying," wrote @CloudAtlas_47. "This is beautiful. Wish I could do this, but I have no picture of the person I’ve been looking for," commented @di_cansino.

But things didn't just end with the virtual reunion. A few days later, Ellen DeGeneres made the actual reunion happen on The Ellen Show and it was absolutely wholesome. Brianna flew in from Virginia to meet Heidi, who was based in California. Brianna explained to DeGeneres that while she was flipping through her grandmother's scrapbook, she found the picture from Hawaii with Heidi. She immediately remembered how close the two were during that cruise and wanted to know how Heidi was doing. So, DeGeneres fulfilled Brianna's wish by bringing her best friend in and the two were all smiles as they met each other after 12 years. The best friend duo hugged each other and were full of excitement throughout the rapport, which was absolutely wholesome to watch.