"Hi John."
I know what you're thinking. And you're right.
I am 40 years old, have 3 kids, a wife, a mortgage, car payments, doctor bills, back-to-school supplies to buy, a lawn to mow, a pool to maintain chemically, soccer practices to attend, church, social engagements, work, cigars. My life seems relatively full right? It should be hard to squeeze in another thing to manage in my life?
Apparently I was wrong.
I am on facebook everyday. Seeing who wrote on my wall. Seeing who wants to be my friend. Starting groups.
"Oh so and so changed their profile picture. Let's go take a lo...oooh why did he chose that picture? He looks positively hideous."
Picture me saying that last bit lying on the bed, stomach down, with my feet up in the air while typing on my computer in my best gay voice. Not pretty I know but you have to hit rock bottom before you get better.
It all started very innocently. A friend of mine whom I've known for 30 years invited me to be his friend. He is always asking me to join groups and networking sites so I blew it off. A few days later I gave in. I had to join facebook to be his friend although technically I had been his friend for over 3/4 of my life but it is much more fun to be virtual friends. You never have to see them face to face. I had no picture on my pathetic page. No nothing. I just joined to be his friend.
"OK good. Now that's done. I can get back to wor...oh an email...You have been invited to be Philip Archers friend on facebook. What the?"
And so it begins.
I have a picture now. I have started a Pfaffenberger Pfamily group to learn about the other people named Pfaffenberger on facebook. There are about 40 in all. I figure we have to be related I would just like to see how. I write on my brother Steve's wall everyday. We are doing a quote of the day kind of thing. I send flair. Steve sends flair. Mike sends flair. Flair? OMG, you don't know? Little buttons you can create and stick on your cork board. Whatever.
The problem is I love it. I have hooked up with a couple of old friends that I haven't heard from in literally over a decade. One of them is a world renown saxophonist. He is big time. He reminded me of our baseball days together, something I had completely forgotten about. He was the pitcher and I was the catcher. When he is nervous before a big performance he told me he thinks about something I said to him on the mound during the last inning of the championship game. Apparently, the bases were loaded and we were up by two runs. Two outs. I went to the mound and said I was hungry and ready to go eat hot dogs and go swimming so strike this guy out and lets go home. He struck the guy out and we went and ate hot dogs and went swimming.
He told me it calmed him down. He said he can see the conversation like it was yesterday.
Another guy I used to work with at a medical diagnostic company got in touch with me. He asked what I was doing and I told him and he was amazed I wasn't singing for a living. I said , "Huh?" Well apparently, we all went to a happy hour one time with karaoke and despite my written in stone rule of never singing karaoke I did. Apparently, I sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." He told me the office still talked about me and my singing.
This one "little" website has made it so I can get in touch with people I would probably never have seen nor heard from again. That's a gift you know. When I stopped to think about it, each one of the people I mentioned in this post have had an effect on me as well. And I always say what makes me me is all of the experiences I have had in my life. They have formed my opinions, although there are not many of those, my thoughts, my actions, my hopes, my dreams. And believe it or not that is the person Kelly fell in love with.
I guess I need to thank them all for that. Either that or I can just send them a nice piece of Flair.
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