As I have reconnected with friends and associates from the past 39 years of my life over the wonderful website Facebook (FB), sometimes it is just incredible just to take a moment and think about the various paths everyone has taken in life.
Though some friends remain close all of our lives most of us have "phases" in life in which we run with different groups of people. Mine include growing up in Houston, high school at DeSoto, attending Howard Payne and Baylor, living in Fort Worth, working with Excel in the mid 90s, the singles department at Fielder Road and finally my current life in Mansfield and working with Equal Health.
In some instances decades have gone by with little or no contact with many of these old friends and it’s a real shock (and mostly pleasure) when those connections are remade through various social hubbubs like FB. Recently I spent some time on a college friends FB page looking at their photos and reading about their lives. Over 18 years ago we hung out nearly every day as irresponsible, fun loving, college kids. Since then adulthood took over and now here we are back in touch; kids, families and professions in tow along with us. He likely has hours full of stories and events he has experienced that I am clueless about and the same with me. Yet, once communications start up, it is as if those years never occurred.
As I near 40 I am already working on my planned mid-life crisis. It’s gonna be a party like 1999 (though more than likely I will be in bed right after Letterman’s monologue if not before). Catching up with all of these people spread out all over the nation and some even further away, it is humbling. Life just goes too fast. Next thing you know we’ll be sharing stories about being grandparents.
Oops…some already can.
Facebook is great. It makes me laugh at the days of old, smile at the good things of today, work towards making tomorrow incredible, and think deeply about how it will all wind down.
Life is good, but God is better. Let’s make this the best day of the rest of our lives.
"Love each other with a warm love that comes from the heart. After all, you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth. As a result you have sincere love for each other." 1 Peter 1:22
(c) 2009, J. Brady Speers
"I say it as I see it and I make no bones about it!"
4 comments:
Brother, you've not spoken truer words. It amazes me who reaches out using facebook.
Over the years, I've wondered about people that I grew up with. My playground buddies, Richard and Robin. The guys I used to play tops with in 5th and 6th grade. The girls I wanted to date in high school, who just laughed when I asked them out.... (believe it or not)
It's amazing to see where people have landed. What they're doing. How they are.
For example... Since 1st grade, Sandy Hellums was a constant friend. Our moms would trade off taking us to school and picking us up. I had a crush on her off and on all through school. She had the locker in highschool either right next to me, or right under me every year.
When we graduated, we hugged, said we'd see each other soon and then.... 18 years passes by. I've often wondered where she was, what she was doing. Did she end up at MIT? Harvard? She did move to Boston after graduation.
Last week I got an email from my sister with a link in it. It was to Sandy's profile at a Houston law firm. She's a kick-ass attorney now. Who knew.
I guess this should have been my own post, but this is just one example of how much a blessing this social web has been for Kat and I.
Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/davecurlee twitter.com.katcurlee.
rock on baby!
-dave curlee
Brady-
Great post! Technology is a double-edged sword. On one side, social networking sites like Face Book, and Twitter allow us all to re-connect, or connect for the first time, with people from various walks of our life, past and present. On the other side, these sites can also make it much easier to be 'intimate and interested-once-removed'. Posts, comments, and tweets can never replace true intimacy and sitting around all night with a beer and good stories. Simply put, we're all living too fast, and pulling at too many strings.
All of my friends know I've never been very good at the phone, and Face Book et al are great ways to update my friends without the weirdness of the Bodyless Communique. So, although I agree that technology has made it easier to open the door, it's still up to us to make sure it stays open and that we actually walk through it from time to time. You've always been really good at that with me, and I appreciate it more than you'll ever know.
Check out my next tweet, post and comment, and I hope to see you soon!
Love you, brother!
Clint
Brady-
Great post! Technology is a double-edged sword. On one side, social networking sites like Face Book, and Twitter allow us all to re-connect, or connect for the first time, with people from various walks of our life, past and present. On the other side, these sites can also make it much easier to be 'intimate and interested-once-removed'. Posts, comments, and tweets can never replace true intimacy and sitting around all night with a beer and good stories. Simply put, we're all living too fast, and pulling at too many strings.
All of my friends know I've never been very good at the phone, and Face Book et al are great ways to update my friends without the weirdness of the Bodyless Communique. So, although I agree that technology has made it easier to open the door, it's still up to us to make sure it stays open and that we actually walk through it from time to time. You've always been really good at that with me, and I appreciate it more than you'll ever know.
Check out my next tweet, post and comment, and I hope to see you soon!
Love you, brother!
Clint
Brady-
Great post! Technology is a double-edged sword. On one side, social networking sites like Face Book, and Twitter allow us all to re-connect, or connect for the first time, with people from various walks of our life, past and present. On the other side, these sites can also make it much easier to be 'intimate and interested-once-removed'. Posts, comments, and tweets can never replace true intimacy and sitting around all night with a beer and good stories. Simply put, we're all living too fast, and pulling at too many strings.
All of my friends know I've never been very good at the phone, and Face Book et al are great ways to update my friends without the weirdness of the Bodyless Communique. So, although I agree that technology has made it easier to open the door, it's still up to us to make sure it stays open and that we actually walk through it from time to time. You've always been really good at that with me, and I appreciate it more than you'll ever know.
Check out my next tweet, post and comment, and I hope to see you soon!
Love you, brother!
Clint
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