My On Again Off Again Relationship With Facebook

Wackadoodles I Have Known...Again!

Wackadoodles! You're still here! If you're reading this then you are not one of the 700 people I deleted from my Facebook page in the last year or so. I don't know if that is a good or bad thing for you, but it is what it is. I have no idea why I started deleting people. I guess it just bothered me that there were so many people on my list who I did not interact with. Why the hell that bothered me I do not know. Maybe I just didn't like Facebook telling their advertising sponsors how much everybody was "connected" to each other when they really weren't. Yeah, now I'm just making excuses. Who knows why I really did it? I don't know. It's a mystery. 

I can tell you this though. For what it's worth, I love my Facebook friends. They are part of a life that would be so boring without them. Not that I can't live without them. I'm sure I can. It's just that they have etched out a solid little nook in my everyday thoughts.  If Facebook died tomorrow I would definitely look for some of them. Those dear hearts that make my days better without even knowing how much they do for me. The ones that make you laugh, or think, and even cry. The wonderful writers of stories and music. The singers and musicians. The tellers of truths no matter what the consequence. The lovers of animals. The haters of the death penalty.  The simple lives. The complicated ones. You are small miracles of pleasure and delight in my life. The new friends and the old. You know who you are.

Dammit Facebook I am still in awe! The people I have encountered here are night and day. Different parts of the world, different religions, different languages, yet, so intertwined with one another in so many ways. They fight the same fights. Win and lose the same battles every day. My friend's list features every race and religion. The rich and the poor. Those with and those without homes. They all have a little spot here on my corner of the internet. 

When I first joined facebook I did not know what to expect. I found it disappointing at first, but then I could see it was more than just a website. It is a community of sorts. One created by me. I choose who lives here. I choose who to invite. Everyone in it is here because I allow it. So if you are here it is because I want you here. Having said that, there is more to it than that. Facebook communities, like any other community, can take on a life of their own. The whole quickly becomes so much more than the sum of it's parts. And that is where the magic happens. That is where you realize that you have created more than just a list. You've created a family of sorts. People brought together because despite all there glaring differences, they are fundamentally the same. And who knows? Maybe they were all looking for you too.

There are many things I continue to enjoy about Facebook. I still love the fact that I communicate with so many different people from so many different backgrounds. I especially love the fact that I don't have to remember anyone's birthday. Seriously, that is cool. On that note, how many birthday wishes would you be getting without Facebook? Yeah, not many. I love that faraway families are brought close. I get to see friends and family grow up even though they are not here. I still remember the days when my oldest sister would send us pictures of her kids in the mail. It seems so long ago. 

I love that I get to find old friends who were lost to me. Since I wrote "Wackadoodles I Have Known" I have found many old friends. A first kiss is on my list lol (hers not mine). The longest hug that I can still feel is here (same girl). A childhood accomplice in crime found me here. My Jr. High crush is here. A dear friend who used to write poetry and loves cats. Old elementary school buddies have found me here. It is so good to see them. The honest truth is that if I had not found them here the chances were good that I would never hear from them again.