The Book of Faces

It might be a little strange to dedicate a blog post to a social networking site, but I'm going to do it anyway because let's face it, there's something to be said about Facebook.

I always liked telling my students that I was on Facebook before they even knew it existed, back when it was college students only and you had to be invited by a friend to join. Since then, as all things that start small and are successful, it grew. A lot. And I went through a love-hate relationship with it. But I didn't quit despite the fact that my parents got accounts, the layout seemed to change every other month, and my page became inundated with useless applications and notifications. It's not that I'm loyal or even addicted. It's simply that Facebook still does for me what I believe was its original intent: It keeps me in touch with both current friends and friends from long ago.

It is great to be able to commuicate with my fellow stay-at-home-moms, plan playdates (just this week, my inbox had three playdate invites), and encourage each other throughout the week. It's nice to see, through status updates, that someone else is just as bored, busy, stressed, tired, or happy as I am. It makes the stay-at-home part of my life a lot less lonely. It creates a little community of sorts, even when we don't get to see each other frequently.

And of course, it is hard to resist the urge to find out if the girl who was so shallow in high school ever grew out of it, who that old crush finally did marry, who those nerdy elementary school friends became, and basically who's married and who has babies and who is not. Whose dreams came true?
As far as what I've seen, the shallow girl is still shallow but married, the crush turned out to be gay, and those elementary school friends have had many dreams come true and just as many fall apart. There are many, many weddings and babies, and also still some college parties (for which many are much too old now). Some surprises, like unwed mothers, or drastic changes in political or religious views, but mostly I just see life, with all of its ups and downs and in-betweens. And it's kind of neat, to know a little bit about the current lives of people who, for better or worse, had an impact on my life at some point. People who helped me become who I am.

My favorite part of checking my facebook page, however, has to be reading the updates of those who have gone on to work in some sort of church ministry (most of them friends from Awakenings and St. Mary's). The things they write never cease to amaze me and to make me so aware of how lucky and blessed I am to have known people like them. Quotes, stories, and just the thoughts and ideas that flow out of their hearts are enough to make me think or pray or smile all day.

So I am thankful to be able to see a snapshot of such a messy and beautiful collage every day.