RAOK# 24 - Call me, call me any, anytime...

I like Facebook.  A lot.  I don't spend much time on there anymore but what I like about it is that I can see what is going on with a friend or a family member with a click of a button.  People that were friends of mine from 20 or 30 years ago are on there and now I know what is going on with them.

"Back in my day" people lost track of each other pretty quickly.  The generation coming up will have a totally different experience after they leave high school than we did.  They may not actually talk to their friends from high school but they will know what has happened to them. . . where they went to college, what stupid things they did there (thanks to the pictures), marriage, babies, etc.

The downside to all this great technology is that we've lost touch in a totally different way.  I can keep up with old friends but never let them know that I care about what's going on in their lives.  I can pop off an email pretty quickly but I'm not going to find out how someone's day was.  I can read a "Tweet" but it doesn't tell me their real story.  For a country where we know everyone's business . . . we are sadly out of touch.

RAOK# 24 was to pick up the phone and call an old friend I haven't talked to in awhile.  I chose my friends Steve and Cindy.  I met them in January 1990 at the Poconos in Pennsylvania.  It was a random meeting where we were sitting at one table for dinner and they were sitting at another.  Somehow we started talking over the tables to lament how awful the resort was.  They had been married the day before and flown in for their honeymoon.  She had spent the night crying about how nasty her room was and spraying Lysol all over the place.  The day before we had complained to the front desk about how nasty our room was and received an upgrade to a better room.  A friendship was born.

We spent the week together and our lives were changed forever.  For the last 22 years we have stayed in touch (before Facebook!).  They live in the New Orleans area and I've visited them many times; ridden on their Mardi Gras float; enjoyed their crawfish boil; become friends with their family (shout out to Mr. Lloyd and Miss Irma and Miss Maggie!) and had the pleasure to watch their family grow by two great kids.

It's been awhile since we have talked so I picked. up. the. phone. and called them.  I ended up talking to Steve for about 40 minutes.  That's when I made a real live human connection.  We talked about all the personal family stuff that you don't put on Facebook, the updates on their family members I know from all my trips, how the kids are doing in school, and their dry-cleaning business.  It's all the good real stuff that you really want to know about someone you love.

Phone?  When it comes to making real connections, Facebook has nothing on you!