I've been on both Facebook & MySpace for quite some time. When I first joined, I couldn't understand the appeal. I just didn't see what all the fuss was about. Then one day my best friend called me and told me to check something out on Facebook (a photo of someone from days gone by). While having a peek, I noticed that people where using their maiden names to make it easier for people to find them. I figured this was a good idea and I did the same. That's when it all became clear because before long, I had over a 100 different people on my friend list. It was a mix of people from throughout my life that I had friendships with, knew casually or went to school with (and some that knew me, but I honestly didn't remember them). It was quite the phenomenon - at my fingertips, there were over 100 people from throughout my life that I could see pictures of & catch up with!
There is a downside to this phenomenon though. Actually, there are many downsides. Some I won't discuss, but I will name a few in this post and in posts to follow.
For one, catching up with people may not be quite what you imagine. You can look back on days gone by and have something emerge you never quite expected...
On MySpace, I had the first great love in my life send me a friend request. I was shocked & so pleased to hear from him in this way. Before long he started posting pictures of the days we were together - pictures he said were taken for me while we were in a long distance relationship (he was in the Army) - pictures he wrote me love letters on. Seeing these photos on such a public forum bothered me. After all, they were my photos, but I swept those thoughts from my head thinking I'm happily married now, it was a long time ago - what's the difference now. Soon after, there was a comment on one of those photos from a woman I did not recognize and never heard of before. Her comment read something like this - 'Thanks so much for the memories - you were such a prize on my arm back then.' Ouch!
This was the man I believed was the first real love of my life. This was that man that all other were compared to - the man I kept a special place in my heart for. 20 years later, there I sat heartbroken by the truth of the matter. One little thing on social networking site, changed my whole life story. It went from I story that I thought I knew, to one I only knew the edited version of and that is hard to get used to. My memories are skewed and I'll never know what was real and what wasn't.
My in-laws just left after a five day visit. I don't mind it being a five day visit, but then again, five days of your house not being your own is always a bit unsettling and although I don't look forward to their departure when they are here, I can't say I'm sad to have things go back to normal. As a treat for my son's birthday, we took him to the Museum of Natural History in London on Thursday. He chose to go because we took him last year (he's been crazy about dinosaurs since he was three years old). They give out adventure packs at the museum which consist of a back pack, safari hat, and binoculars with an adventure to follow during their visit. The back pack has clues in it to solve a mystery. Last year it had a dinosaur claw, a tooth and a sample of dinosaur skin he had to match up to one on display. He had a great time solving the mystery and even remembered which dinosaur it ended up being. Last year's trip was wonderful. We walked right in,
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I had a similar experience on Facebook. It's really difficult when you find out that someone isn't who you thought they were. I'm sorry it happened to you, but am glad you are happy with your husband & son.
Good riddens to him!