Do Yourself a Favor

I've only recently discovered Facebook. I had heard about Facebook for several years before I even looked at the homepage. Some of my friends were longtime users that see each other every day. I couldn't understand the lure of a venue for friends to post casual goings-on in their lives who spent hours together each day. Why in the world would anyone care that I have just returned from Christmas shopping?

Then I thought about it. Not about telling people that I had just returned from shopping or that I was leaving for the barbershop. I thought about all the people that I have grown up with that I have lost track of over the years. A lot of my friends are folks that I went to high school with. There are even some folks that I've known since grade school. We went our separate ways after high school and we just drifted apart. I missed my friends, but we had lost track of one another.

It really hit me that people can fall out of touch because of distance when friends moved to the East Coast. Sure, there are cell phones and web cams. I've got a cell phone. I use it when I'm out shopping and for emergencies. It is not attached to my head 24/7. I don't have a web cam. Maybe someday...when I get a faster internet connection. There's just something about seeing the face of a friend and reading one or two lines about what they're doing just now. Or yesterday. I think it's a bit more personal than an e-mail message. People who haven't seen each other for years are suddenly reconnected and sharing family pictures or pictures and memories from grade school. The falling out of touch wasn't intentional...it just happened.

I decided to take the plunge. I logged on, submitted my information and sent out requests for friends. I waited. I got a response. I don't remember who was first. As my friend list grew, I remember how much fun it was to hear from folks I hadn't seen for a while. For some it had been 5 or 10 years since we'd seen or heard from each other. For others, it had been 20 or 25 years. I have friends that live just down the street from me and it's easier to browse Facebook for a few minutes and keep up with them than it is to wait until one of us comes out of our house and we see each other on the sidewalk. Our schedules just conflict.

So, do yourself a favor. Set yourself up on Facebook. It just takes a minute. You can give as much or as little information about yourself as you like. You can edit the information anytime. Make a list (I'm a list maker) of friends you haven't seen in a while. Look for them on Facebook. Add them as a friend. Reconnect. I'm glad I did.