The Facebook Saga, Part 1

"Flirting is cheating if you are in a relationship. It is lusting after someone that belongs to someone else. When a person can’t give up ex-lovers something is definitely missing in their relationship.————-"

Over the past several months, I've been "interviewing" people about our most favorite social networking site...Facebook and it's effects on "relationships". These are just a few of the stories related to my inquiring mind and now I'll share them with you!

A woman meets a guy. They hit it off quite fabulously. They become friends on Facebook. (Relationship killer number 1) So, he spends time going through his friends' list explaining who everyone is and what they are to him. Especially the female friends. Not much is going onto his wall. She also notices that he rarely comments on others' walls. She's curious and goes to the pages of a few women that post quite regularly on his wall. Foiled...all their walls are "hidden" and only revealed to friends. Then Facebook created this "see friendship" option. Interesting. One of the ladies posts something directly onto his wall instead of just commenting and the "see friendship" option appears. So, she clicks the option. And what she sees are countless posts and comments made by her fellow on this woman's wall. Not just "friendly" stuff, but things like..."I miss you, honey." "I love talking with you." "I love the way you make me feel." and so on and so on... These posts are dated within the time frame of when he was seeing her exclusively. (I used "was" on purpose)

What she figured out is that her fellow thought he was covering his tracks by deleting his comments and posts on other people's walls by deleting the recent activity from his, not knowing that whenever one of his honeys decided to post...they have opened up their comments and posts to each other to the world. What she also failed to think about or consider is the chat option and private messages. Come to find out through other means...he has been corresponding with multiple women in this such fashion.

Lesson? What you don't see doesn't mean it isn't happening. Also, men are ALWAYS looking for greener pastures. You are only the FLAVOR of the month, and you're awesome, but if he can get the one he's been after...lookout...you're leftovers.

To be continued...

Romping In The Playground In My Mind

Simply breathtaking. That is the only choice of words I have to describe this day of February. My previous day's company arrived mid afternoon and the wonderful relaxing times never ceased to abound.

Annie had a couple of her friends over to play. Yes, Annie is a girl, but her closest friends are boys. She's not one of them girly girl types. She would much rather play outside, climb trees and build forts. Last night, the trio built a campfire and then implored for it to become real. A real fire to roast hot dogs and melt marshmallows, I, of course, complied.

The three laughed and ate hot dogs, drank Dr. Pepper, burned marshmallows and released into the dusk...tales of apparitions and ghostly visitors. As I watched from the kitchen window, a smile of contentment spread slowly across my face, because while she basked in the glory of being a child maturing into a teenager...I knew that way too soon, she'll trade her tennis shoes for high heels, her bubble gum for lipstick and her baseball caps for ear rings.

Be a story teller...captivate your audience, whether it be two ten year old boys or a coliseum filled with avid fans. Chance is a gift, so act on chance when given the opportunity.

The Dream

After devouring a most poignant work of writing, I pondered the essence and want to share the most vital parts.

A man, that is not old yet, experiences a terrible tragedy. This tragedy is the death of a family. His friends and parents do all they can to comfort and redirect his sorrow without success. After futile attempts of relaxing vacations, love, and compassion...they became despondent as they watched this man become the former shell of himself. They resign from everything because the man, who was not old, has aged prematurely and himself resigned from life.

One night, he has a dream. In it, he is sitting in a dimly lit room at a round table across from an elderly man who looks much like his late grandfather. They stare at each other in silence for several minutes and then the wrinkled man speaks.

“My son, tragedy is simply a miracle waiting to be discovered. Because within tragedy lie the seeds of love, learning, forgiveness, and empathy. If we choose to plant these seeds, they grow strong. If, on the other hand, we choose to overlook them, we prolong our tragedy and let somebody else to discover the miracle.”

He suddenly realized that instead of using the tragic accident to notice how precious life is, he prolonged the tragedy and ceased to live his life.

Look in the mirror...are you missing someone?