Once in a while, I use the social network, Facebook, to let my friends know what I’m doing or where I’m visiting. It’s fun! I’m not nearly as obsessed with it as I once was. These things can get very addictive. I once tried with all my might to not use Facebook for a whole day. I did it, but it was not easy.
I’m not as bad as I once was and can go a few days without checking in. But when I do that, I discover I’ve missed something I wish I’d known sooner.
It’s fun to see what your friends and family are up to. It’s also a great way to interact with people from as far back as one’s childhood. And I’d be willing to bet that, without Facebook, I would have never been heard from these people again.
I’ve been able to reconnect with people from as far back as the first grade. These are people I’d have never seen again. Perhaps I’d have heard of a tragic and too-early passing of someone, but I’d have not stayed in touch with them, nor really even known where their lives had lead them.
Around the World
Now available in Paperback and for Kindle!
One morning I had three chat windows open on my Facebook page. One person was my neighbor from my pre-teen years. I hadn’t talked to him since the early 1970’s. Another was a high school friend who had married one of my buddies. Once I’d moved to the next county, I hadn’t talked with either of them again. The third person was a police officer with whom I’d served when I was a reserve officer. He was a colonel serving with the U.S. Army in Iraq at the time and he was on line at the same time I was.
I had a realization that morning that struck me like a mini-thunderbolt. Two of these three friends were people with whom I’d have probably never reconnected nor heard from again. One was in Orange County, California. One was somewhere in Oregon and the other was clear around the globe. Yet, I sat in my home, chatting with each of them.
Now available in Paperback and for Kindle!
I recently had opportunity to reconnect with another friend from my pre-adolescent years. We had a long and lovely chat one Saturday morning and shared many happy childhood memories. She recently passed away from cancer and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to chat with her via Facebook. My heart was warmed by our chat that day and I hope hers was, as well. I am saddened at her passing at such an early age, yet I am so grateful we got to share some time together, albeit electronically.
There is another Facebook friend who I hardly knew in high school but with whom I’ve kindled a cross-country friendship. It’s all possible because of the electronic age in which we live. What do I care that Mark Zuckerberg is a billionaire? It’s OK with me. Because of his idea, I have gotten to reconnect with people from my life that I’d have never again heard from. Yes, I really hate all those ads on my mobile app, but I can look past that for how close it brings my family and friends. But there’s more to it…
How I Get the most Likes on Facebook
It’s fun to put up a post or a picture and have people click on the Like button. I have less than 650 Friends on Facebook, so I don’t get that many Likes. But it is cool when friends click on the Like button because it’s a little bit of contact with them. I like that. I know we don’t have time to chat or discuss what’s going on in our lives, but the Like is like getting a simple little Hello! It’s contact with another human.
Over the years now, I have ascertained the most effective ways to get the most Likes for a post on Facebook. They are, in no particular order:
- Post a picture with my Mom.
- Post a picture with my Mom.
- Post a picture with my Mom.
That’s all there is to it! No matter what I am doing, where I am traveling or what goofball thing I can think of to say, I get ten times as many Likes when I post a picture with my Mother than I do for anything else.
And why not?! I haven’t met anyone who does not like my Mom. When we were growing up, she was the “neighborhood Mom.” Well, at least she was at our end of the block. At the other end of the block it was Mrs. Urbanec, and she deserves her kudos, too.
All through my middle school and high school years, my friends who came over would call her Mom. I’m sure the same happened with the friends of my siblings after I’d moved away. The only thing that has changed over the decades is that she is now called Grandma by the neighborhood kids.
When I stop by for a visit, there’s always some little kid knocking at the front door or showing up if the garage door is open. And they all happen to mention that it’s hot or they’re thirsty. Those comments will, at least 99% of the time, if not more often, find them with a box drink in their hand. And if they’re not thirsty, they’ve figured out which phrase will reap them a cookie or whatever long, sticky candy roll the kids are eating nowadays.
My mother was destined to be a mother. It is what she always wanted to be and she has done an exemplary job. There has never been a time in my life when she was not there for me, caring for me—even if it was long distance over the phone—with a loving gentleness that for me can never be equaled.
She has done so much for me and meant so much in my life that I have horrible guilt feelings when I use her to get Likes for my posts on Facebook. But, hey! How else am I going to get my jackass friends to say hi to me?! This, it appears, is the senior citizen equivalent of getting a box drink.
