Facebook

I had lunch last week with a dear friend whom I had not seen in a long time. It was fantastic to reconnect with her and catch up with the craziness that our lives endure these days. She's one of those technology people: designing websites long before it was easy to do so. Has all the techie toys - and knows how to use them. And while she's younger than I, she's not a teenager (the generation who apparently is DNA wired for all new technology learning) which makes her grasp of it even that much more impressive. She told me to get on Facebook. Facebook. I laughed at her. She said, no really - you need to get on. So I did.

Holy Smokes. Wow. How cool is that world.

For those people (like me) who mock it: just stop now. It's cool to see people you haven't seen in forever (says the woman who flew half-way around the world for her high school reunion... and yes, I still haven't forgotten those people who DIDN'T come, and who still owe me. Big.)
I was able to find people I've been looking for for a *long* time. Old roommates and friends.

Technology is truly amazing. I don't think that "kids these days" will appreciate the connections they have to the people in their lives. They are always connected, and perhaps *will* always be connected in ways those of us not tied to the internet in high school and college ever were. For them, it's not a question of losing addresses and changing phone numbers and losing touch. They just assume that they will always be accessible. Don't know if that is a good thing or not...
But for me, seeing old friends has been great. Seeing my sister on there... the one who refused to even check email until VERY recently... well, that just made me feel even more behind the times (but not like the loser I felt in step class. No, I haven't gotten over it yet.)

Ultimately, like it or not, those people and those connections in my past have helped shaped my life and the way I live it. Some were fleeting acquaintances (part-time coworkers.) Some friends by lottery (roommates) and chance (childhood neighbors.) Some friends by association (boyfriends of roommates, friends of my sister.) Some by birth, some by choice. Others who were going through similar lifetime experiences (new motherhood, elementary school friends.)
I have all of these people (and more to find...) to thank for the person I am today. And those friends who I share my life with now - I will thank for the person I strive to be tomorrow. And I don't care what it looks like to be on Facebook.

Because I'm almost 40 ("...someday!") and it's becoming less and less important to me what others think. I'm the opposite of junior high school Aidan - who burdens himself too much of what other people think. As he edges to the extreme of those feelings, I'm backing away from them. And to those of you Facebook naysayers, well, I guess you won't be on my friends' list - which I can tell you is a pretty great group that I'm blessed to have known.

ps: dyed my hair bright, vivid, dark red last week. It's my goth look - so I've been told. Part of it was for kicks, and part (as was pointed out by a very shrewd woman) was to *not* blend in. Life's too short people. Go and have some fun and be the person you want to be.