Facebook has become a window to my past the last few days as I am "finding" people with whom I attended elementary and junior high school. Some I simply remember by their names and then everything is just blank. Some I remember as people I didn't like very much because I was bullied just because of my former last name which I refuse to print here other than to write (a) it RHYMES with a Disney character and something about his nose and (b) little known fact - my former last name is also known as a certain kind of Italian celery (fennel) that tastes like black licorice which in itself is absolutely DISGUSTING! Notwithstanding the fact that having been bullied much of my life because of my name, I still cringe when it's spoken out loud because it just brings back bad memories and I literally RAN into the courtroom when I was old enough, waving my name change form in front of the judge's face. Best $80.00 I ever spent!
Anyways, back to memory lane. I've "friend requested" a bunch of people from eons ago who may or may not accept my request - many have already done so - because they don't know who I am. I won't accept anyone I do not know. Some I've actually asked who the heck he or she is because I could not imagine why he or she was friend requesting me.
Friend requesting is an interesting concept. You get a little "yahoo guy" that does a little dance inside of you when someone accepts your request and that little "yahoo guy" slumps his shoulders in dejection (and rejection?) when you see your friend list drop down one or two or three because someone or several "friends" have dropped you. And you have no idea who dropped you unless you are one meticulous list making son of a gun who actually KEEPS a list of friends and peruses it every day to see who has dropped you from their facebook page ! (that's kinda creepy if you ask me. Those people need to get a serious life).
But for me, right now, it's kinda cool finding people that I went to school with even if they have no idea who I am! I know who they are. And even if they don't accept me, it won't phase me in the least. People get too sensitive over Facebook dropping or whatever it's called. Who cares? How many of the people on your friends' list do you actually SEE? Most of my friends are people I graduated with and I have gone for YEARS without seeing most of them! Others are random people who are friends of friends that I will never meet and others are members of my extended family - my cousins. My sister and nephew are on my page but I never talk to them online!
One of the people I went to junior high school with accepted my friend request and I was stunned to see he's some kind of big rock star now! How cool is that! Funny how we don't think about that stuff when we are young or, alternatively, what we think we will be when we grow up isn't how our lives turn out. It's whether we allow our lives to fill with regrets that will keep us from making our dreams a reality or if we simply move on and find a way to fulfill at least one of the dreams of our youth. I did - I got to pitch for the Boston Red Sox in 1986 when I attended one of those fantasy camps. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat just to say I got to pitch - twice. And of course, writing books has always been my biggest dream. if JK Rowling can do what she did, then why can't I?
My favorite quote is "It's never too late to be what you might have been."
It really isn't if you just believe in yourself.
Now, if only my teenage naval officer George Chapman who was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia on the U.S.S. Enterprise and who I genuinely liked - alot - would turn up!
You never know.
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