To say that I am on the cutting edge of information technology would be to say the least, fascinating, to say the most, perjury. No fear in trying new things, but life sometimes keeps you on a mundane, routine road with no time for deviations. Such was the case for Facebook until really the last couple of months. Not knowing much about it except when events relating to it became newsworthy, or in seeing that my eldest daughter had somewhere around 500 friends and about 100+ online at any time, I decided to seek out some friends just to catch up on things. The DMCI 50th anniversary reunion is an event which has also brought some other friends back into my life.
In particular, there has been a small group of friends with whom I've had a 30 year gap of interaction, but within the group, new friends whom I've only known for about 2 months. This small group, through conversations, postings, and e-mails, along with a couple of nights out, have become extremely close, sharing personal issues, a lot of laughs, and camaraderie. From nothing two months ago to this now, mostly due to Facebook, but also due to a great chemistry we share.
There have also been hook ups with other old friends, with roughly the same time gaps, including one from New Brunswick, a best friend from back in the day, and it's been like picking up where we left off. I've also caught up with three friends from Montreal, part of a three day home and away exchange trip 29 years ago. The amazing thing is that we've shared more as a group in the last month or so than we could even possibly have done all those years ago.
It is as if we're transcending time, to some different plane; not of this world, but not of where we came from or even met. We're not the ages we are now, because we are relating to things that have happened prior to today, but we have a level of maturity and personality that is beyond where we've come from. At least there is when I'm not referencing towels, peach outfits, chickens in the breeze, etc.
The ability to be at times more than I can be, or funnier than I may allow myself to be, or more helpful than I can sometimes be, is one of the special aspects of my Facebook experience. The ability to go to "a different solitude" when things get heavy here, even for a little while (and some of you know what I'm talking about) is another aspect of Facebook.
Mostly though, there are special feelings that a number of us are emoting from time to time these days, which are sometimes posted directly in a comment, or just noted in the writing style. While I'll never get to 500 friends, I'll never trade quantity for the quality of the friends I have. This quality, above all else, is the magic of Facebook.
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