Saturday, April 16, 2011

Of Yearbooks and Facebook

Perhaps I am feeling a little nostalgic today.  I heard, via Facebook, today that a man who I greatly respected passed from this earth today. I was amazed at how that news hit me. After all I hadn't laid eyes on him since high school.  He was the director of the camp I worked at every summer.  A great man.
Perhaps I am nostalgic because I picked up a few yearbooks today. I scanned through the pages and was amazed at how many people's lives I know about because of Facebook. It was fun.  Those faces I knew and loved well.  I have had the privilege of knowing so many people. I can't think of one of them whom I regret knowing.  As I looked at each face and then thought about what I know of them now I wished I could drop in and have a cozy tea with each of them.  Catch up.  Tell them the impact they had on my life and to give them each a hug.  I saw faces that are no longer with us. I saw faces whom I laughed and laughed and experienced life with every day. I saw faces who I didn't know very well but now I know better thanks to Facebook. I know a friend who I went to elementary and junior high school with in San Diego who married a friend I went to high school with in Oregon. It really is a small world.
One picture really truck me from my junior year of high school.It was a picture of my advanced placement field trip for that year.  All of us APers sitting on a beach. I now take my children to that beach every summer. I pass the hostel that we stayed in every summer and I tell Shaun every summer about that trip. :)  The high schooler who was having a grand time on a school trip had no idea that her adult life would be lived in that city.
On Facebook I have a few friends whom I have known since Third Grade.  Third Grade! That's insane. I'm one of those people who often wonder about people I knew...what happened to them? What did their lives turn out like. Are they loved well?  Are they happy?
It was a fun trip down memory lane.  And I'm so happy that I "know" so many of you still through Facebook. 

No comments: