We have differing opinions about social networking in my house. My Andy is sort of a Luddite when it comes to his feelings on the usefulness of these newfangled technological tools for keeping in touch. Me? I take my cue from a former co-worker who was the first to have a cell phone, a Palm, then a Blackberry. I asked him if he felt beholden to the device of the day, and he advised this: "We use the technology. It does not use us." In that spirit (the spirit of Facebook past?) I connect only with people I find fun and interesting so it's not overwhelming or annoying for me. Mostly, I think it is a scream.
This came home to me the other day, as I recently have reunited with two old friends. I know I have waxed nostalgic about the value of childhood friends before, but now we're going deep - back to kindergarten. As we exchanged comments about a new movie, I realized that some fundamental thread of spirit connection still exists between us. The sparkling essence of our personalities existed in kindergarten, and I could see that those best parts about each of us remains.
I'm delighted to report that both of these creatives are still writing and painting and contributing to the universal spiritual well. It had to happen - they had prolific imaginations even then. One favorite memory is of an original rhyme one of them used to sing:
"Here comes the bride,
All dressed in red,
Fell on a bed,
Then said, 'I'm dead.'"
It slayed us every time. Of course, we were only 6. Then again, I still think is pretty fantastic and hilarious. (It is also an oddly accurate description of how I felt on my wedding day, although I wore white. Maybe an addition to my occasional commentaries on marriage and divorce - which started here - will be a post script to this New York Times commentary on name changing procedures. My follow up piece shall be entitled, "It's even a bigger pain in the ass to change it back!")
I suspect we would all say there are behaviors we left behind in childhood, hopefully having grown and learned how to assimilate all those wacky emotions into productive and enriching behavior. Then again, I suspect we would also say there were times in childhood when we shone our best light, especially when silliness blew open the doors and windows of our hearts, producing uproarious laughter and kooky rhymes. That's a pilot light that can't go out. Surrounding ourselves with kindred spirits - in cyberspace or otherwise - is like cupping a hand around the flame to protect it.
What's a favorite silly memory of your childhood friendships?
