Ahhh Facebook. Beloved Facebook. You are the giant cyber space high school reunion. So many good uses for Facebook.
And yet. Yet, you ruin the mystique of long lost friends and make our cloudy memories crystal clear. You give our childhood enemies and crushes an adult face, and we are forced to see the bullies and heart breakers for who they are now. Grown ups. Nice people. Real estate agents. Balding. Unmistakably average. Kind.
I had a recent run in with my sixth grade crush. I promised him I would not use his name on my blog, so I am changing it to Stevie. (Hint that isn't much of a change from his real name). Stevie was the topic of many a three hour phone conversation with my best friend, Erica (pictured with me above). Erica and I were smitten. Stevie was so cute. Stevie was so funny. Stevie looked at me yesterday, what do you think that means? We prank called Stevie on several occasions. Giggling wildly into the phone screaming "we love you!" and quickly hanging up before we could hear his response. Ahh... Stevie. Stevie didn't like me. Boys didn't like the sixth grade me. Well except for Eli who I kissed on a double dare and "went with" for a grand total of two weeks. But Stevie had his eyes on prettier faces. He was never mean to me. Not really. It was his not -as -cute side kick who had an evil streak. Stevie broke my sixth grade heart at the school dance. He agreed to a slow dance with none other than my BFF Erica. Erica was thrilled. So I thought that I would take my chances and when "Say You, Say Me" was played I asked my heart-throb for a dance. He was too tired. Too tired? Even at my age I knew better. Liar. Jerk. He picked Erica over me.
Somehow, I picked up the pieces of my shattered heart and moved on. My friendship with Erica was not tarnished and we both went on to have many other crushes, but you don't forget your first.
And then there he was. A grown man on Facebook. He looks like any one of my friend's husbands. (And yes, "Stevie", you have aged well). And he was nice. He remembered my name. He remembered that dance. He accepted my friend request and did not tell me he was too busy or too tired to be my friend. He is an adult. So now the memory of my little sixth grade crush has transformed. Stevie has an adult face, and he is nice. It kind of ruins it doesn't it?
I always secretly hope that some of those heart-breakers or mean girls are doing a stint in prison....then they show up on Facebook, all grown-up with families. Darn Facebook.
ReplyDeleteAlan, oh Alan where art thou???? You are not on FB, alas.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet post. Today we can really get intouch with people we would like to reconnect with and also see those who were not the best while growing up. It is funny what time can do to change people. Some get nicer and some stay the same. This was a great post!
ReplyDeleteMama Hen
I found an old boyfriend (if you want to call hiim that) that ruined my reputation senior year. OK, a week of senior year but that was a huge deal. So when I found him on fb I was going to slam him for the little poop that he was. He beat me to it with a truly sincere apology. Dangit!
ReplyDeletei love facebook... i'm not gonna lie. and lately, i've been getting friend requests from people i've not seen in TWENTY years. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? i guess that's possible when you're well into your 30s. Wow. but really, those crushes... i'm torn. don't you so desperately want to see how they "turned out" and yet want to hang on to the fantasy of "what was" at the same time? oh facebook, you've got me wrapped around your little finger. i can't help it. i'm a sucker.
ReplyDeleteToo Tired? Oh how funny. Bless him.
ReplyDelete