Facebook...bringing people together, one friend at a time.

I'm taking a break from my Rockin' party posts today because I didn't get a chance to take pictures of my "All About The son" mantel or the VIP passes that I made for the kids. Wednesdays are my busy days so I'll have to postpone that post. I did want to tell you about my newest time waster/addiction though.

Facebook.

Are you on facebook? I signed up not too long ago because some of my friends on my message board were on it and I thought it sounded like fun. I never anticipated having that many "friends" but I'm already up to 85 in a matter of months. I know many people have hundreds of friends but really, I thought I'd hit 20 or so and be done with it. People are just coming out of the woodwork!

I have reconnected with lots of "kids" from high school, (and some even from elementary school) and it's really cool to see their status updates and the various directions that life has taken all of us. We had our 20 year HS reunion last year so it's been a really long time.

I've found, or been found by, former coworkers, college roommates, guys I casually dated and remained friendly with, and former students who are now parents themselves. It's been really cool. About a month ago, I found some "kids" who I taught when they were in third and fourth grade. They were brother and sister, I had the brother first and then a year later had the sister. I taught in what would be considered by most (well, by everyone) as one of the "worst" neighborhoods in Philadelphia. "Good" students were few and far between. As much as I loved my students, even the more troubled ones, these two were two of my favorites, really sweet, hard-working, friendly kids and I've thought about them for years, unable to find them, until facebook.

I sent them a message and "friended" them and never heard anything until last night when I received a message from the sister, I'll call her "B" she wrote me a lovely, lovely letter that had me feeling so special and realizing that I did make a difference, at least in a few kids lives. I won't tell you her private information of course, she tells me everything that's been going with them and it sounds pretty good, but I did want to mention a couple things B wrote to me that just made me feel so great. All in all it sounds like both the brother and sister are doing pretty well, still working on finding themselves and figuring out what they want to do with their lives. I'm not positive, but if I am doing my math correctly, I'm thinking B is about 19 and the brother, "J" is probably about 21. (Yikes. I'm old.)

"It's amazing We've been thinking about you since we moved away from [the school]. We were looking for you and nothing came up. We missed you so much! Like you really have no idea!"

"I'm so glad that you found me and remembered us. We've missed you so much and our old neighborhood, Hopefully we'll meet again in person. Cause I know my brother would want to give you a big hug (I mean a really big hug) for making a difference in his life."

Wow. I mean WOW! It still gives me chills and brings tears to my eyes at the sweet things she said. I am definitely going to make an effort to get back in touch, I want that "really big hug!" It's so nice to know there's kids out there for whom I've made a difference. It's a good feeling. Thanks facebook.