I don't live in the town where I grew up. In fact, I live about 103 miles from Agawam, Mass. Which I bet, when compared to my other classmates from '92, is pretty close. But I don't get the Agawam Advertiser at home weekly like I used to.
I loved my hometown paper. I would cut things out and save them in photo albums... photos, important articles about high school, sports events ... I had boxes of them in my parents' basement. They got damp and were tossed in the big move years ago. But I still remember going through the paper every week, my hands black from the ink, and reading about everything happening in my life and the lives of my friends. It was my source to find out the news.
I assume only a handful of my classmates still live in Agawam, many live in the surrounding 'burbs so they see each other more. I have not seen a high school classmate in at least a decade - and I can't even think of who that might have been. I miss many of them because ... I loved high school.
And then came Facebook, and I am instantly connected again, with friends from all parts of my life.
The other day a status update took me by surprise. One of my friend's, brother posted that his other sister, Lisa Uneegar, had died. I was shocked. She was 17 days younger than me and she was dead? I thought this could not be. But it was. And then I realized I would have never known if it weren't for Facebook.
Facebook is our new hometown paper. No more reading the marriage, birth or death announcements in your local paper like our parents did. No more getting the police blotter in the paper. No more starting our days quietly reading the local events over coffee. We get all this plus pictures and links to articles on Facebook everyday, instantly. And I am thankful for it.
People no longer stay in their hometown and raise the next generation. We move, we explore we find a new town and settle in. But all of us still want to be connected to our past, in some form. And Facebook gives us that. Facebook tells us when someone we know goes into labor, when a tooth is lost and when a divorce is happening. Facebook is our way of staying in contact with our friends we have made along the way.
I wish I had not seen that status update because she was a very sweet person and had more to offer this world. I still remember her laugh and they way the three of them used to fight. But I am thankful that I was friends with her brother on Facebook so I was able to read about her passing.
No matter what we call our daily update on Facebook, it is not an addiction, it is not something that takes time away from our families, it is our hometown paper. The place we check out daily to see what is happening in our friends' world. It is the place where we can be a community ... even though we can't touch each other, we offer support, we give advise, we congratulate each other on our accomplishments. We have created our own spheres of community, people who are there for each of us.
Just like our hometown community.
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