Many, many, MANY years ago, I had the pleasure of spending summer afternoons with a friend from out of state who came to visit her grandmother. Mrs. Howton was a great neighbor, and I loved taking goodies from my mom to her. Her big house on the corner of 52nd and Georgia Road was a bit intimidating, but the small houses at the back of the property were intriguing, and held treasures untold.
I remember one particular day when granddaughter Susi brought out an ostrich feather fan and entertained me and her little sister with a rousing rendition of "I'll knock 'em down with a wave of my fan." Now, I’m not sure if that was actually a song, but her enthusiasm was simply a hoot and I aspired to be just like her, even tho I had no idea how to perform before an audience, and besides that, I had no fan to work with. I thought perhaps it was because she attended Brenau, where they surely must have taught such skills, while I was stuck in plain old brick-wall-staid Woodlawn Elementary where they focused on boring things like history and math.
Susi's Dad was in the military, and easy to track because of Howton's Hog Haulers. And her brother "Pete" was easy to find, too, as he also had a distinguished military career. But Susi was just lost to me. Until this weekend.
Backstory. For quite some time now everybody and his brother have been telling me I oughta get on facebook, that I'd be surprised at all the things I could learn, that it's fun, that it's entertaining, yada yada yada. And so yesterday after I got home from Sunday School I caved and set up an account.
OMG. It's a whole new way of counting coup. I am absolutely flabbergasted at the number of people I know who are on there. Like EVERYBODY. And, yes, I found Susi Howton. Well, not exactly found her, but found her blog. And read with interest some of what she's been doing for the last fifty years. The coincidences in the turns our lives have taken are amazing. I sent her an email, and hopefully someday she will answer. But even if she doesn't, at least I know her road in life and where she was in January. So I am now officially grateful to the folks who have badgered me about facebook. But I have some questions, and I'm going to have to depend on you to help me out.
First, there is a person who pops up and wants to be my friend but frankly I wouldn't spit on him if he was on fire, much less spend time looking at his wall or allowing him onto mine. I realize I can choose not to choose him, but I'm sick of looking at his face when I go to my space. Any answer for how to handle that?
Next, just an off-the-wall remark (sorry, couldn't resist), what do people do besides read facebook entries and write the most minute details of their life? I fear if I spend the time necessary to keep in touch with all my friends I will have no time for other important things in life, like doing laundry, cleaning house, mowing the yard, taking a bath, and feeding the cat. So how do you prioritize your facebook time? If you check regularly on ten or fifteen closest friends, leaving the others for Saturday afternoon, will there ever be enough time to catch up with everyone on your list? Or am I just missing the point of social networking?
