We interrupt this blog to bring you this special announcement:
It is with a not very deep sense of sadness that I announce the demise of the very wasp of which I wrote previously. The unnamed flying insect,who was the subject of two blog entries, met her untimely death around mid-day on Wednesday. No witnesses who will admit to it were present, although evidence would indicate that the wasp met with a quick but possibly violent death. The body was quickly disposed of so that no further investigation is possible. Further details may be shared as they become known, but don't count on it.
And now back to our regularly scheduled blog.
I love Facebook. And I'm finding that sharing that opinion, especially with people in my age bracket, is not always a popularity-inducing position. I know, I know. I was one of those people a mere year and a half ago. "What a waste of time," I said, scorning all young people who had found yet another excuse to withdraw from society. I watched the movie. I saw those two rich twins get ripped off. Or did they???? I made the judgements. I was willing to be superior to anyone who treaded into this murky land of social networking. Whippersnappers. . . . all of them. (See blog entry 8/27/11).
And then I joined. But not to participate, mind you! No! Just to see what my former elementary students were saying about me on a Facebook site they had developed which dealt exclusively with a discussion about their former music teacher and the songs she wrote. I mean. . . I had to know!
Well, as it turned out, they were saying some very nice things, for the most part. And when I posted a reply, a bunch of them "friended" me! And voila! I was on Facebook! (And I became aware that the word "friend" had apparently become a verb when I wasn't looking!)
Now for the record, I have only sent out friend requests to about 3 people. My friend list is made up solely of people who came to me. I wanted in advance to only have as friends people who would say yes to me. I never have handled rejection very well. And the friends came. At first a slow trickle and then faster. I didn't know enough to put any securities on my wall, so anyone could find me fairly easily.
And deciding who were my "friends" was an interesting process. I found the requests fell into categories:
1. Those who I used to teach. Accept them all. I'm a teacher. I can't reject my students. In my case these were either my former elementary music students . . . . (what's not to like about a little kid coming to music?) or my former pregnant middle school girls. (Lower percentage of requests. Many of them spent most of the time they were in school rolling their eyes and hating me. For the record. . . some of them didn't do that.)
2. Friends from elementary school. I mean we were in Edison Grade School together. We went waaaaaaaay back. We walked to school together. We suffered through Mrs. Milam in 6th grade. We made fun of each other on the playground. We remember FUN NIGHT and the annual Halloween parade around the neighborhood. And yes, even the Christmas pageant. (Those were different times.)
3. Friends from Junior HIgh and High School. We were in separate social classes that seem to have disappeared now. We are all so emotionally mature now!!! Nobody whispers behind my back and thinks I'm uncool! Unless they do that Wall to Wall which, now that I think about it, is entirely possible.
4. Friends from college. Sorority sisters. A guy in my class who is now a girl. Old loves. People who married their college sweethearts and are still married! You know, miracle cases like that.
5. Former teaching colleagues. . . from several different schools. People who know who my kids are. People who came to baby showers thrown for me. Who shared the daily ups and downs of my life. Who laughed and cried with me in the teacher's lounge. They have spread all over the country. How else would I have ever kept track?
6. People who made my life a living hell in one way or another who, I'm ashamed to admit, made me feel smug and superior just by ignoring their friend request. Oh yea, I recognize their pathetic attempt to bury the hatchet. Not that I'm still bitter. Apparently I'm not as emotionally mature as my old high school friends. But that was only one person.
7. Girls who knew my brother in junior high and 50 years later are trying to get to him through me. Are you kidding me???
8. Chautauqua friends. . . .my summer family, which grows every year.
9. My Choral Arts family. . .with whom I share the extraordinary singing highs on a weekly basis.
10. My current daily buddies who live near me now or who work out at my gym with me. These are my newest, retirement friends.
Today I posted a picture of my younger son Casey and myself during the Christmas holiday. I had received it via Snapfish from his girlfriend. What's a person alone to do? I have this picture and I just love it so much and I want to show my friends. So I put it up on Facebook. Within an hour 13 people had "liked" the pic and 7 others had left a comment. That's 20 people who saw and enjoyed the picture and I didn't have to invite any of them over or clean up after them! They were from all walks of my life: 3 former pregnant teens, 5 former elementary music students, 1 buddy from Edison School, 3 former teacher colleagues, 3 friends from Chautauqua, 3 high school friends, 1 college friend, the girl who is after my brother (I mean, seriously. . . is she kidding?), a random woman who doesn't fall into any of the other categories, and my best friend Joan. That's quite an affirmation for me. I'm connected.
I love it when my former students post pictures of their own kids. Some of them are in their 40's and have children that are growing up to look much as their parents did when I taught them. Talk about the circle of life.
So to sum up. . . I know. There are negatives to this whole social networking thing. I was dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century in this regard. And it's possible to find or be found by people you would rather not reconnect with.
But it's also possible to find treasure.
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