In recent years, the news has shown us that there are a lot of bad things that can happen to people on social networking sites; however, from my own experience, there are a lot of good things that can happen, too.
I have had a MySpace account for a few years now, and when I first got it, I largely used it to follow favorite musicians and bands. And, over the years, I have formed some wonderful friendships with people 3000 miles to the left of me and 3000 miles to the right of me that I’ve still yet to meet in person.
My son was very into Facebook, and a few months ago, he told me that I should get an account. At that point, I figured that I was already on one social networking site, so why bother with another? Over and over, I heard, “Mom, join Facebook!” It’s funny how some parents worry about their kids on these sites; that is, their kids may hide things from them, and they feel must monitor them. Here I had my son harassing me to join Facebook. I asked, “Well, if I join, will you be my friend?” He rolled his eyes and said, “Yes!” Wow, my son wanted to be friends with me…..in public!
So, I reluctantly joined, and I was amazed by the people I found and who found me. Hey, there’s Tom, who I first worked with at Digital in 1984! There are George and Lisa, my good friends from my HP days! There’s my best friend and my daughter’s godmother, Suze! There’s David, someone who I met through a mutual friend, and with whom I ended up being more friendly with than with our mutual friend! And, finally, there are several of my high school classmates (Amelia, Cathy, Marcia, and Anne to name a few)! Facebook felt like “This is Your Life” and then some, but in a very good way; reconnecting with all of these people has just been wonderful.
I know there are disadvantages to the “electronic age”, but the thing I love about Facebook is that I can stay in touch with all these people with a URL, even if I can’t be in their day-to-day lives. I log in once a day to see what everyone’s doing – Oh, look…it’s July and Suze is wearing a sweater in the house because Skip is Mr. Freeze with the AC. Wow, my son is making banana bread and banana chocolate nut ice cream! (Why doesn’t he ever make that great stuff here?!?!?) Katie is going to a concert tonight. And, Lisa’s new bathroom sink is wonderful!
It is almost like what one of my friends called "Internet voyeurism." But, to me, it’s just really getting a snapshot of what’s going on in the lives of all of those you care about, because you don't have time to pick up the phone or write a lengthy email each and every day.
Anyway, today, I met one of my high school friends, Anne, who I recently reconnected with via Facebook. I hadn’t seen Anne in six years. We emailed each other back and forth, and she invited me to her house for lunch. I arrived at noon in her drive way, and my first glimpse of her was her popping her head out of a window over the garage, telling me to come in via the garage door.
I opened the door of the basement, stepped in, looked up the stairs, and then she opened the door at the top of the stairs. When I saw her, there was no way I could run fast enough to get up the stairs to reach her. When I reached the top, we embraced. I knew then that seeing her and feeling her arms around me was one of the best things I had felt in the last year.
We went out on her porch, caught up, moved inside, had lunch, moved to another porch, and before I knew it, it was 4:30, and I had to leave. It’s true; you know you have a good friend when you haven’t seen that friend in ages, but within a minute, well, it feels like it’s 1979, and you’re back in her big gold 4-door American sedan that she inherited from her grandmother and you’re talking about high school classes, guys, or what movie you want to see next.
It had been six or more years since I had last seen Anne, and it had been 29 years since we graduated from high school; however, the years had not aged her at all. Indeed, many years had passed, but time had subtracted nothing from her; if anything, when I saw her today, time had added to her and made her more beautiful than ever.
Love is…
An old friend…
Who becomes new again.
P.S. During our long conversation, Anne told me that after reading “Lip Service”, she’d never refer to New Haven as, well, New Haven again. She then said, “Hey, you know what it reminds me of?” So, here’s what Anne was reminded of.
Yes, that’s Frickin’ New Haven.
Okay, who wants to be the first one to sport one of these babies on your bumper?!?!?!
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