This last Sunday Simon our pastor preached on Social Media and how we can use or abuse it.....really excellent message so check it out on website. One of the points he made was that Facebook was great for keeping in touch with friends who live all over the nation and world. For me...this has been the very best thing...I have friends and family in places like Canada...Amsterdam.... as well as dotted all over UK. Its been fantastic to share life with them and especially photos and news of family events.
Recently I had a friend request from someone whose name I didn't recognise so I
"ignored "it...the request came back a few days later with a note attached giving her maiden name ....Janie Maclachlan.....well....that was a blast from the past...I clicked "confirm" and away we went....30 years of our lives to catch up on and she had also read my blog posts so we talked about that too.
We exchanged messages and news and caught up on what we think is 30 years since we last saw one another and then last weekend I flew to Scotland for my sister in laws 60th birthday party and arranged to meet up with Janie....
Oh my.....what can I say....it was just the most amazing time....we met for lunch and spent over 2 hours catching up and learning some things we never would have expected to know.....we talked about our children and grandchildren and our hubbys and our jobs and our own parents all now deceased....we were surprised to know that I yearned for her parents to be mine as they were still together and she yearned for my dad to be hers because he was so lenient....I longed for her bedroom as she had a room to herself and was an only child...and she longed for my siblings and crowded one bedroom ...enjoying the times we shared a single bed in same room with my dad and 2 brothers.!!!YES...this was our lives...no bathrooms...just a loo....sinks in the windows of the one bedded flats we both lived in...us on a top floor...them on the second floor of old tenements. Our weekly trips to the "public baths" for our once a week bath..oh that was bliss as we had all the hot water we wanted...the rest of the week we had a "strip wash".....for some of you reading this you may think we were really poor people but we were just the average kind of family who lived in that part of Edinburgh.
We talked about all our escapades....we were champion shoplifters....we stayed out all night....we sneaked out of our homes when parents were asleep...we had huge crushes on guys way too old for us...we sneaked "fags" from our parents packets...we went to pubs and clubs way too young...we mixed with folk who nowadays would be criminals but in those days we were just larking about street corners!!..I have done all the repenting I needed to do a long time ago....
We laughed about who we fell in love with and who we ended up marrying...we took trips down memory lane about Revolva...the mobile disco that our guys worked for and how we were disco groupies.
It was with sadness we said bye bye....but I did say she would be more than welcome to the actual evening 60th party...and when she texted me later to say YES...it was so exciting as she would meet up with my brother who again she hadn't seen for decades. The party was amazing....I met up with my brother and sister in law...niece and nephew and some other friends I hadn't seen for some years...the disco played all the hits from my era...the 70s...so I boogied with Janie and anyone else who was on the dance floor...we jived...twisted...lip synced to Maggie May...I Cant get No Satisfaction....Sugar Sugar....Come on Eileen...I Will Walk Five Hundred Miles...Nutbush City Limits....and loads of others and generally had just the best time ever.
Facebook is tailor made for such a time as this....it reunites friends who for many different reasons lose touch ...it brings back memories that previously were forgotten....it allows all our mess ups and failures to be laughed about ....it shows us that we can be different ....it brings laughter into situations that could be so sad....it moves us to tears and tempts us to smile.....it promises us that the friends and family we have are only a few key strokes away......and it means we can share life with them no matter how many miles apart we are from each other.
I eventually headed back to the Bed and Breakfast I had booked ...(which overlooked the church where Chris and I got married)...somewhere round about 1am and crashed into bed...my feet were killing me and I slept like the dead. The following morning I was picked up by another great friend and we popped in on yet another friend before having lunch together and then heading back to the airport for my flight home...I reckon I was away something like 40 hours all told but think I have packed a whole lifetime into such a short space of time.
Finally....At the party I also met 2 old friends who I reckon I hadn't seen since I was 16,,,how cool was that....
So....
Janie ....you rock my friend
Sandra.....all those plans you shared...go for it girl
Anne...keep on dancing and keep on looking and believing
My Family....Love you all and look forward to the twins next year
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