The Wonders of Facebook

The most amazing thing happened this morning. And it just goes to prove how small of a town and how big of a town Norman really is.

I ran into my Facebook friend Liz Houck and the donut store. Why is this amazing, you ask? Background first: Liz and I grew up two streets away from each other. We went to the same elementary school, rode the bus together, went to middle school and high school together and she was even a nurse at my OB's office when I was pregnant with Will.

But that is really where our common denominators have ended. We both married and had kids who go to different schools. She is a nurse, I am not. We have gone our separate ways. Until Facebook.

It honestly took me a while to warm up to Facebook. First, I had a My Space page. Wah wah. You could do lots of fancy stuff, like add music and decorate your page. But I didn't seem to have a lot of people who I didn't already see on there.

So when a couple of my friends got Facebook pages, I waited. For months, actually. But eventually, I created a page. I started modestly with a few friends. But eventually my friend list grew, and the broad range of friends grew.

If I were to categorize my "groups of friends" that I have on Facebook, it would probably look something like this: my close friends; my close friends' relatives; my newspaper friends; my college friends; my non profit friends; my high school friends; my middle school and elementary school friends; my husband's friends; my church friends; my old church friends; my BSF friends; my family; my kids' friends' parents; my soccer friends. I am sure I am leaving some category out, but that is all I can think of at the moment.

Right now I have 355 friends. This could change at any moment once someone adds me ... or deletes me. (I think it's weird that you don't know you've been deleted, that you just find out when you watch your friend count or when you realize that you haven't seen so and so post a status update in a while.)

Funny thing is some of my Facebook friends have become my regular or close Facebook friends, in my opinion. These are people who post a lot. I tend to keep up with their lives this way. And I love it.

Some of those regulars are people I see a lot. But most of them aren't. Enter my friend Liz. I feel like we have become regular Facebook friends. We talk on Facebook and post on each other's walls. But even though we both live in Norman, I haven't seen her in person since I had Will. (That was 4 and a half and three quarters years ago!)

Until this morning at the donut store. There we both were, fresh out of bed, no make up, in shorts and t-shirts, barely awake. And I hugged her with all my strength. It was so good to see her. And we have kept up through the wonders of Facebook.

Where else can you take a quiz to see what musical character you are most like? Or a quiz on what your dream job is, or what color you are, or what mental illness you have? And my newest favorite is taking a quiz so you can see how well you know someone. I made my quiz and I have taken many more.

And the list craze has died down, but it was neat to get to know people that way, too.

I love Facebook. And I am slightly addicted. But I love it because I can keep up with 355 of my friends and they can keep up with me, but it is on my terms. I share what I want. I tell them what I want. They tell me what they want. And there it is. The beauty and wonder of an online community.

But it was really good to see my friend in person. We should probably try to do that more. ;-)