Facebook gets a bad wrap and there has been a certain amount of backlash lately. But I adore it. Not just because it is a great way to waste a significant amount of time. It's a great way to keep up with friends I've left and to reconnect with old friends. I've blogged about that already, so I won't go on about that any more... other than to say I keep finding more people from college and high school in this area and that is cool.
Yesterday I met a Facebook friend for coffee. This isn't someone I just bumped into on Facebook, this is a person who, at one point in my life, I probably saw every day. We went to junior high together. But combined with her being younger than me and the fact that I have blocked out most of my school-related life prior to senior year, I didn't remember her. We both live in the same town. We've been commenting on each others pages for some time, so I finally asked her to meet for coffee.
We met at a local coffee shop and we closed the place down (which for this coffee shop it 6pm). It was great. She almost brought her Junior high yearbooks (7th and 8th for her, 8th and 9th for me). I had flashbacks to my eighth grade picture where I was sporting the Midwestern overly-permed girl mullet. I don't remember my 9th grade picture, but I am fairly sure I still had the Midwestern girl mullet--I had that haircut until sophomore year.
What was weird was that here was this person I had never met face to face yet we had memories of the same things and people. Some were school specific (friends, school plays), some were town specific (the Parkade, The Hill, local small towns), some were state specific (Chuck Long, Hayden Fry, and while Lute Osen didn't come up, he would be another one; if you don't know any of these people, then you are not from Iowa).
I told her about this blog and given our mutual love of the Interwebs, my guess is that she will read this (hi!). But it was enjoyable and entertaining. Not to mention the fact that I got to lust after her iPhone and dream about the day that I will get one (hopefully soon).
On a similar topic, last weekend I met some old acquaintances from high school who were in the area on vacation. I had class with both of them (they are married now but didn't date in high school--I don't think), but I don't think I would've ever have called them good friends or anything. I also found out that he and I went to elementary school and junior high together, and I didn't even know it. I'm hoping he didn't take my surprise that we rode the bus together as a personal snub. Like I said, I have blocked out most of my formative years. But it was cool seeing them, catching up on what is going on back in Iowa.
So, here's to Facebook for allowing me to reconnect with a part of my life I pretty much forgot about. It's been fun. It almost makes me want to my next high school reunion.
Almost.
No comments:
Post a Comment