Let's get our social network on.

I've been bouncing around on facebook for over three years now. It's been interesting, fun, and even frustrating sometimes. Mostly it's been great. Now I know what's going on with some of those good old Hope High School Bobcats. I get to see how some of my Hendrix College peeps are doing. I've even managed to track down some of my friends from "the retail years."

I've actually gotten to know some folks better - folks that I might have only considered acquaintances a few years ago. Why is that? How could I feel that I am better friends with and/or closer to people that I am "talking" to via a keyboard or a smartphone?

It seems to me that there's something about this modern way of communicating that facilitates more honest, candid "conversation." Nobody interrupts or talks over each other. Everybody has the opportunity to choose his/her words carefully and deliberately - more deliberately than we might in extemporaneous conversation. And we still have the option of ignoring another's comment. We can still argue. It seems we do it more thoughtfully now. We can even add graphic images or photographs to our comments to enhance our communication.

And just last weekend we had the pleasure of spending some quality time with some wonderful people from Arkansas and Tennessee. A couple of these people were folks I knew at Hendrix College. I didn't know them well, but I knew them. More recently we ran into each other on facebook and became facebook friends. In the course of being facebook friends, we began to enjoy each other's observations on life. We checked out one another's photos. We got to know each other better. What a treat!

And then a visit in San Antonio! Suzanne and Bill, Chuck and Duanna - we had a wonderful time catching up a little bit and enjoying each other's company. And really, our reconnecting wouldn't have happened without facebook as a conduit.

So I'll keep hanging out on facebook. I'll keep checking up on my friends, and once in a while I'll think of somebody that I haven't found yet and I'll type his/her name in the search bar space and wait for results. Where are Lucinda Lassiter and Cynthia Whitten from fifth grade? What ever happened to them?