I remember it like yesterday.
One of my favorite people in the world, Haylee, had called. Haylee is family, one of the first kids I coached, and her parents were—are—mentors of ours. For me, Haylee was one of those hybrid kids, a mix of daughter and the baby sister I never had, and every time we met, it was a toss-up as to whether she would hug me or punch me to death.
Anyway, at this time, she was in college, and she was updating me with info about her and her old teammates, as I hadn’t seen them in a while. And then she said the fateful words.
“Coach, you have to check out this service called ‘Facebook.’ It’s where just about the whole old team hang out. You might even find some of your friends on there too.”
Fase bock? Faced book? What?
“Face. Book. You genius.”
(that was my word!).
To be fair, I wasn’t the humble networking maverick I am now. I was barely aware of MySpace, and frankly, that brought the McKayla out of me, long before McKayla herself knew what it meant to be so unimpressed. I dismissed it. Haylee is crazy anyway; maybe it was a prank.
With that seed planted, and the rising profile of this social network, I remember checking it out. I remember doing a quick search for one of my classmates from way back when. And I was hooked.
Eventually, Facebook become a personal network, a ministry tool, a work environment, and more. It was a one stop shop. I loved it. I loved the connections, and loved the potential.
And then my mom got on.
Seriously, that didn’t do it. It lost it’s luster due to a series of things. Small things, really. Microblogging and, eventually, Google+. Facebook became very mobile, and very, very loud. Everyone was there.
Then came the opinions, and the soapboxing. During election cycles, it was downright unbearable. Church folks fighting. Relatives bickering. Weird pictures. Unfortunate proclamations of love of Justin Bieber.
Everybody flocked to Facebook.
So, I mostly drifted away. I didn’t make a big announcement or cancel my account. I just focused my social endeavors elsewhere. I had to put in a fortnightly reminder into my task manager, but deleted even that shortly. Eventually, I turned off all notifications. For all intents and purposes, I was done with Facebook.
But then…
But then I got a email from the parent of a kid who needed prayer. This was another favorite old player of mine. I checked my notifications, and found dozens of notes and comments from old youth that had accumulated.
So, now I am back on Facebook. Not daily just yet, but often enough to interact with the old players and youth, parents and family. To check on Haylee. To send a note to my kid brother.
To be available.
I don’t have anything on MJ (yet), but I’m definitely back. And my excuse is because Facebook is for the kids. Like Wu Tang Clan.
[Image via f Owen W Brown – Flickr Creative Commons]
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