Another Facebook Victim

I have to report that I am the latest Facebook victim. LOL My best friend from college e-mailed me a couple of days ago and said that she had signed up and therefore, I had to sign up, too. It’s like a blood oath kind of thing, I think. So, I did. I succumbed without a struggle.

I have resisted Facebook and these other social networking sites since they came into existence because I’m basically a hermit. That’s the primary reason. But I also have this dread of seeing and meeting people I used to know. I never attend reunions -- not high school reunions, college reunions, or any other kind. I’m always certain that other people have become fabulously wealthy and successful and I haven’t.

That’s actually not true. I have a sneaking suspicion that every classmate who is now wealthy and successful probably goes home at night and drinks him/herself to sleep. Maybe they have marital problems or they’re about to lose their huge house. I know somewhere inside that what we see on the surface is not the true story. But when you go to reunions you see people laughing and being happy. They look successful. They look like their lives are wonderful. They drive great cars and they look slim. So, I feel like going to reunions would make me feel bad about myself, even if I know that it’s all phony.

That’s why I have resisted joining sites like Facebook. They seem like places where people put up pictures about their happy lives. But this time curiosity got the better of me. Or maybe I was just in the mood to say, “What the hell? I don’t care what they think.” So, I filled out the information. I put up a picture of myself and started adding current friends and old classmates to my friends list. I think I have seven or eight friends added now. That’s respectable for less than 24 hours, especially considering that I’m not letting everyone see my profile.

Of course I couldn’t resist seeing who else was on Facebook. I had to look up one special person -- the one that got away. I’ve looked all over the Internet to see if I could find this man. I thought I had tracked him down once but then he disappeared. Yes, he is on Facebook. I couldn’t believe it. I haven’t seen him in so many years but I recognized him at once in his picture. He has changed, certainly, but it is absolutely him.

Oh, no. I won’t be contacting him. I don’t have that kind of nerve.

I wonder if people look at me in my pictures, read my profile and think I sound happy and successful?