Love it or Hate it...

Most of my friends have a fb page. A few do not. I have one friend who I have known a very long time who calls fb Narcisist Page (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/narcissist) I have other friends who have blossomed via the virtual connection to others and other views of the greater world than their own.

Setting aside the faults or issues with the agenda/politics bias that can be seen, I for one appreciate it. As is my habit, and that of many I suspect, I check my phone in the morning for messages, weather updates, news. This morning I woke up to a lovely pm (private message) via fb messenger. It was from someone who attended high school with me. Although I lived in a relatively close knit community with a stable population, she and I were not friends. She was and still is lively, pretty, friendly and popular. I was (and still am to a degree) quiet, average, introverted and only popular with a very small group ;). She wrote of wishing that we had been geographically closer as she had gotten to 'know' me via fb and we shared sensibilities.

There are friends from other lifetimes that I never would have stayed in touch with had it not been for fb. To be honest, I wrote letters through my first year in college and since then they have been few and far between. After spending hours in various jobs on the phone, I am not one to make that many calls these days. In fact, for the record...text me if you want to connect =). So fb has allowed me to watch old and new friends grow, evolve, blossom and sometimes suffer. In that suffering I have seen many gain comfort through fb connections.

I do not post every meal or dining experience but have learned about fun new places and recipes from the posts of others. I do not have the wanderlust I once had, but truly enjoy seeing others smiling in photos of places they visit. I will never be a grandparent, but I had them and I enjoy seeing my friends loving every minute of their experiences with their grandchildren. I do not have a dog currently but please do not stop posting about yours. And I hope that others, like I have, have learned more about themselves, their views and beliefs about being a good person, friend, and citizen.

So to my friend who hasn't hopped on fb I hope that she will one day. Both for selfish reasons of connecting more often but also because I think she could find some surprising bits of joy and connections to others.

What are your thoughts?