Booked!

Facebooked that is.

I used to dislike Facebook. Then I got the hang of it and it became OK, then I got bored, then I found Scramble! (I love word games!) and it's been in flux ever since. Recently I took a stroll down Facebook high school lane, and saw all the people I went to school with. WOW. What a trip!
Talk about instantly morphing back into the snarky, critical, self-conscious stage. I caught myself after noticing the same person was on everyone's list of friends. If they graduated from my town, she was their friend. She must be bored! I thought. Then I thought, loooook who's talking! Despite the fact that we were mutually not fans of each other 16 years ago (16!), I have no idea who she is now or how she has changed since being a sophomore.

It was amazing to observe that knee jerk "I wonder what they think of me? I am not cool enough!" line of thought. I hadn't seen many of these people since graduation, and all of a sudden I am imagining conversations about myself that may or may not have occurred. Seriously. My perceptions of what other people may have thought of me as viewed through my filters. Really. Realistically, they probably were too concerned about what everyone else was thinking about them- or didn't give a crap about me.

Thankfully I got a hold of myself rather quickly and reigned it in. I even befriended a few people and some of them friended me back. It has been a week now and I have forgotten most of who I befriended in the first place and if they haven't friended me back, it's OK.

I think there's a place on Facebook where you can check out everything you've done on the site, but who has time?

At the 10 year reunion the organizers asked the question what have you been up to since high school? Someone wrote that high school was the worst experience of her life and she had suffered horribly because of the endless teasing and ostracism for being different. She was scarred emotionally and had moved on to a better life, F'you all! The reunion committee printed her letter in the Where are They Now? booklet they put together.

It's mind boggling how cruel high school can be. I don't know anyone who doesn't have a horror story or two. Everyone wanted to fit in, to simultaneously be independent and unique, and not care about it at all. Of course we all cared about being accepted desperately.

So here's a shout out, a thumbs up and a HELL YEAH! to surviving high school. If you are reading this and dreaming of freedom when you graduate and can get out of town and finally be you, let me tell you- it always gets better.