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To my nonblogging friends..

So I am kind of a snooper. In high school if you forgot your purse at my house I might read the note from your boyfriend inside. In college if you left out your journal I might just read a page ( or the whole thing while watching the door to make sure you don't come home and catch me).
As a grown up the snooping thing has died down. I almost never check Shaun's cell phone, although if he gets a text while he is in the shower I will of course read it. I don't want him to miss something important.....it is even more fun to text back pretending to be him. It is hard enough to make friends as a grown up that I wouldn't risk losing one by digging through their drawers. Snooping was never about being in the know or looking for dirt. I was just always just trying to figure people out. Get to know them.
Myspace made that so much easier. Like 2 years ago ( actually probably longer ago than that ... but it took me a while to catch on). Wondering how an ex-boyfriend is doing? Wondering if a new aquatience is friend-worthy? Easy...just myspace them. Their profile said plenty. I even learned things about friends I thought I knew pretty well. Then a few things happened. 1) most people started making theirs private. 2) people started having like 5000 friends and no way to keep up with them 3) the novelty wore off.
I haven't deleted my myspace or anything and still check it at least once a week........but I used to check it several times a day, change the music and pictures week. It is no longer a source of information. There are almost no new "friends requests" from long lost highschool and college friends. Bow it is just another way I have to avoid things like cooking dinner, grading papers or vacuuming.
None of my favorite high school friends and only a few of my college ones actually had accounts anyways. I used to be the girl who remembered birthdays and kept up with emails. Not since myspace. Why email people individually when I could just blog about it, and check everyone else's blog. Why remember birthdays when Tom did it for me? Why send a card when I can send a cool glittery graphic comment with the click of a button. My friends that were hard to be in touch with only drifted further away.
Like everyone else -- I eventually outgrew my myspace obsession and moved on to the big girl world of blogger. I post most of my blogs there and only stick a few on myspace. It is harder to search. You can't look up everyone you work with just by their name.......or atleast if you can I haven't figured it out yet. I don't dare ask a new potential friend if they have a myspace ( but that won't stop me from searching later). People give you funny looks when you talk about things you wrote in your blog.........unless of course they live in the blogging world too and then you can just read their blog, skip all the getting to know you nonsense and become new bffs. This has yet to happen to me though.......but am sure it will soon.
I just got an email today from one of my favorite HS friends. She was in my wedding, yet I didn't recognize her name when I saw it in my inbox. She had a sweet baby girl last week. Another recently got divorced and moved off to some state starting with a vowel ( idaho, iowa?). I got a happy birthday email from her ( of course I missed hers) and replied with a few of the new thigns in my life. I mentioned that this baby I am carrying is a girl. Her reply was I didn't even know you were pregnant ( oops how did those 6+months slip by) I have meant to reply.......but haven't responded. It has been like 10 days. 5 years ago I would have replied within 10 minutes of reading it. One of my college friends called me 2-3 weeks ago to mention she was in town. I never called back. I want to. (I have been busy although I did have time to read like 20 books and write 5 new posts.) I miss those girls like crazy. I wish I knew what was going on in their lives. I wish I could just click on their website and be filled in and comment as necessary. Suddenly maintaining friendships via email ( or worse phone calls) feels as ancient as snail mail. My favorite kid ever ( who isn't a kid at all) has had crazy adventures trying to make it in NYC but I only hear things through the grapevine. I learned of another friend's father's death ( at least a month ago) when she called me ( apologetically I might add because she was a just a few days late) to wish me happy birthday. I felt like an ass. I could feel the sadness in her voice over her dad and couldn't tell you what season her birthday falls in even though I don't think she has ever missed one of mine. My friend Laura turns 30 today. I actually remember this.........but have I so much as send her a freakin email. No. All of this makes me feel guilty and like a terrible horrible crummy friend. I don't know you anymore and would like to say one thing.
IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT.
Blog.
easy peasy.
We will be friends again.
Some website will notify me when you write a new post or attach a new picture and it will be just like you were living next door ( or in the next room) again.
It is like snooping but with permission.
I miss you and can't be counted on to maintain any other forms of communication. Unless of course I conviently see you at work or church or live within a 2 mile radius.
So unless you plan on relocating call me and I'll help you set up your new blog.

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