It Must be a Cold Day in Hell

To paraphrase Andi's comment when she discovered that I had done the unthinkable - I've become a member of Facebook.

Almost everyone I know, including my own parents, have a Facebook page. I have managed to be very happy while not being on Facebook. I will admit that I have occasionally felt left out of a conversation because I didn't see what "they" posted on their page last night. But mostly I've been happy to not know every minute detail of peoples lives.

I also consider myself a fairly private person. I really don't want a bunch of people to know what's going on in my life every day. I am especially not fond of the idea of re-connecting with certain people from my past - you know who you are. I know, I know, I can protect myself from all of that by ignoring their request to be my "friend". But maybe that's the crux of this whole thing - I really dislike the idea of having to ask someone if I can be their friend. It seems so elementary school-yard to me. It also doesn't feel right to deny someone who wants to "friend" me...even if I don't really want to be their friend. What if I bump into them some day and they say, "hey, I wanted to be your friend and you said no, what's up with that?" Awkward!!

Enough of the reasons why I don't want to be on Facebook, real or imagined.

Why did I finally cave in? Mostly because I'm looking for more ways to draw people into my Etsy shop. That's probably not the best reason, but it's the real reason. I make a truly beautiful handbag and I want the whole world to own one. The problem is, I am struggling to get people to find Sunshine Handbags. I need to live in a bigger circle in order to market myself to a larger audience, and Facebook could possibly do that for me.

There is also a little part of me that is intrigued by the idea of finding a few of the people from my past, just to see what they've made of their lives, make sure they're happy and healthy. Maybe I'll have the courage one day to track them down. Maybe they'll find me first.

Also, Aaron is going to want his own Facebook page, and I have to do the mom thing and eavesdrop on his life and make sure he is making good choices and his friends aren't punks.

So, I guess I'm jumping feet first into the land of TMI. I really don't want to know that my little sister might be partying a bit too much or that a family had a really successful restroom stop while on vacation, but I guess this all goes with the territory. If you want to be my friend, I'll say yes, and I promise not to bore you with the mundane parts of my life.