Yin and Yang Redux

Here’s what I’ve loved about Facebook -- it’s like a big party where you can meet new friends and re-meet old ones.

I’ve talked about my pal Jenny before -- how we went to the same high school but didn’t know one another  Through her I met her wonderful sister Michal, the Balm of Idaho (Pennsylvania)  Michal’s been there for me during some very hard times and, wildly, I didn’t even know her a few years ago.

One of the great things about Michal, our politics aren’t always in sync (though they are more than not) but there’s no bomb throwing, sniping arguments -- no land mine filled conversations.

She presents her views and backs them up with facts and vice versa. Then we get back to talking about carnivals, surgeries, CATS, food and whatever else is on our minds. It’s refreshingly civil!

And then there are my cousins Gary and Della. Our mothers were close but us kiddles hadn’t kept in touch. I’m, (understatement alert), tremendously happy we’ve reconnected

Through Gary I met his childhood pal Heike -- a total kindred spirit. I’ve met her, live and in person, just once -- the day after my mother’s funeral. Yup, I always like to have my best foot forward when I meet new people.

That's Heike, me and Michal -- two phenomenal angels (of the arch and seraphim variety, of
 course). After mia madre’s funeral, Michal drove me into Pittsburgh. We met Heike for lunch at Salim’s, a fabulous Middle Eastern joint and then did a wee bit of shopping at a street fair in some young, hip part of town. Afterwards, Heike toted my carcass to the airport.

I didn’t know any of these wonderful folk, cousins included, just a few years ago.

On the other side of the Isn’t-Facebook-Grand coin sit all the folks whose ‘friend requests’ I’ve accepted and then, later, rescinded. There are the acquaintances to whom I’ve sent ‘friend requests’ only to find that there was an exceptionally good reason or three as to why we weren’t friends in high school or fell out of touch post college.

It’s honestly not more than a handful but it makes me uncomfortable and unhappy. The deal breaking you’re-not-evolved-enough-to-get-on-this-ride scenario usually comes down to, in one way or another, human rights issues. I'm forever surprised and saddened by the willful ignorance of reality and opaque callousness of some of the folks I meet/re-meet.

This is that whole Yin and Yang thing again, huh? You can’t have good experiences/friends/adventures without the bad.

Also too, all of life comes down to one of my old carnival calls -- you can’t win if you don’t play.