Meeting old friends for the first time: Making "real" friends on Facebook

I have always been skeptical of the ubiquity of Social Media (especially Facebook) and its tendency to supplant the need for real, human interaction. This weekend radically and irreversibly shifted my view of how Social Media can impact our real, physical lives.

Over the last several months, Birdy has encouraged me to reach out to friends from the past with whom I had lost contact. I have found great comfort in reconnecting with friends I have not seen or heard from in as many as twenty years. In finding and rekindling these old friendships, I have filled in many gaps in my memory and rediscovered lost parts of who I was, who I am. Since beginning this process, I have had the distinct pleasure of introducing Birdy to four of the people from my teenage years that played a major role in forming the man I have become.    

This weekend, Birdy and I flew down to California and, among other activities, had occasion to meet my new/old friend Pete. He had popped up on Facebook a few months ago because we had fifteen or so friends in common. His name and his face were somewhat familiar, but I couldn’t place him. What the heck, I sent him a friend request. Within a few minutes he accepted and sent me a message:

This went back and forth for about half an hour and we still could not piece it together. We did, however, begin to make a connection. As we shared the details of where life had taken us in the two decades since the time we didn’t remember going to high school (Leigh High School in San Jose, CA) together, the seeds of a new friendship began taking root. We cheered for each other's successes and shared the lament from our tales of woe.

Herein lies what had been my chief complaint with Social Media: I am not actually “friends” with the vast majority of people who are my friends on Facebook. Many were friends in high school and we got along just fine, but we are all grown up and our lives have gone in a million different directions. We've lost touch and we now share a pseudo-friendship through each others' social media highlight reel. 

This was the first time in which I had added a friend on Facebook from high school with whom I exchanged direct messages and had a “real” conversation...and he was not even my friend to begin with. And yet, since beginning this correspondence, I have found someone with whom I share a great many interests AND get along with AND find interesting. 

As it happened, Birdy and I were travelling to California this weekend and had the privilege to meet again, for the first time, my friend Pete. Seeing him in person did nothing to refresh my memory to recall any event, circumstance, class, dance, assembly or party that we attended together. He and I went to the same middle school and high school during the same years and were friends with dozens of people in common and neither of us could remember the other. But from the minute we sat down for a drink, it felt like we had been friends the whole time.  

From Left to Right: Pete, Birdy and Myko at Lefty O'doul's in SF

So, the fact that Facebook was responsible for bringing together, again, two people who were otherwise perfect strangers has made me re-estimate the power and the value of Social Media. I should mention that Birdy and I met on Tinder...lol 

Life is pretty dag-gone good

These last several months have been a breeze. I am reminded daily of how lucky I am to be alive and what good fortune has come to visit me. Every day I wake up I am thankful for another opportunity to contemplate the mystery that is this life and pursue any/everything that moves me.

I awaken every morning to the smiling face of a darling gal that loves me, pushes me, makes me laugh, keeps me guessing and inspires me to be the very best I can be. And, while I make every effort to be my very best, she accepts my shortcomings and allows me to be whomever I choose to be (warts, bullshit webbed-toes and all). 

In the universe of possibilities, I stand ready and eager to seize each moment. I revel in this inescapable feeling that this is what it feels like when your dreams are coming true. All that we set out to accomplish, we achieve. All that we set our minds to, we bring to life. 

Each moment feels like the beginning of a new adventure...an inspired adventure. This is a helluva ride and I am so glad you could tag along for each step in our journey.

-MyKO  

Fun and exciting weekend with kids and friends

This weekend found us heading down to Olympia for the Dirty Dash. Birdy loaded up the truck and she and the Big Sho picked me up from work (I gave her kids the nick names Big Li'l and Massa Shogun and the two of them are referred together as the "Big Sho"). We swung by and picked up Abbicus and Paco Sanchez and we were off in search of adventure.

We were going to be a part of the  IBEW Local 77 Renew Committee's team running in the annual mud run called the Dirty Dash. Five of us pitched in and rented a house on Summit Lake. This place was immaculate: fully furnished and exquisitely appointed. Great deck overlooking the lake.

The weather was better than we could have hoped for;sunny, light breeze, clear blue skies and no bugs. The kids were in the water within a few minutes after our arrival. We were joined by our house-mates Ben and Dusty (her real name is Shelby, but I will always know her as Dusty...its a long story...I will tell you all about it in another post some time) Cook just as we had finished unpacking. Matt Reese made it sometime around midnight. Everyone had a blast.

After a night spent tying on a few too many Friday night, we crawled out of bed and made ready for the main event: It was time to get dirty! How better to spend a scorching hot afternoon than to trounce around in pools of mud and drink beer? All in all, we had a really fun time and got to hang out and be a part of the IBEW Local 77 Renew Committee's fun event.

Birdy had the brilliant idea to bring along black trash bags for the car ride back to the lake house after the race. Her idea was to step into the bag and poke holes in the bottom of the bag and stick your feet through. We just needed to get back to the lake house without turning the truck into a mud pit and jump into the lake to wash off. I am pretty sure that half of the lake turned a shade of brown for a few minutes after we all got cleaned up.

We had a blast. The kiddos really bonded. We can't wait for next time we can all get together and make mischief. Can anyone say, Seaside?

-MyKO

Returning Home from Home

This long weekend spent rediscovering the place I came from served to remind me that home is where you make it. While I have fond memories of this place, there are new roads to discover, new paths to follow and new friends to come along for the ride.

It is the people that made for the biggest impact this trip. The nearly 20 years and thousands of miles that have separated us have done nothing to steal the joy or quell the laughter we share. And an even greater joy was found: Birdy joined in on the fun as though she'd been there all along.

Here's to making sure we keep moving forward...and making sure we don't forget who our real friends are...and to making sure its not 20 years until we all get together again!

A toast to a new path

This blog is, for all intents and purposes, an online journal of a new path. One taken by two people who have lived more than a few separate lives; lives filled with happiness, joy, new experiences, as well as sorrow, and pain, and heartbreak.

Now, there's nothing to say that this new life won't be filled with many of the same things, but we are starting this one out with a clear objective - to have fun, explore and live life to its fullest. In everything that we do, we see, we hear, we eat, we work on, we are committed to living in that moment. No longer will it be acceptable to drone on in a monotonous, day-to-day, drill it out routine where you lose sight of the beauty and joy of the little things that come along throughout the day, EVERY day.  

It is easy to get caught looking at life through gray colored glasses. Especially after the life you thought you were after, the life you intended to live until you died, ends. But every now and then someone waltzes into the bar where you're slaving away on a letter for work, and changes your perspective - opens up a world of new possibilities. Not only in the sense of new experiences, but also by causing a 180 degree flip on the way you see the world. There are yellow lenses you have the option to look at things through, where the sun always shines and, when you take a moment to reflect, life is pretty damn good. 

That's the path we've decided to take. And so far, the ride has been exhilarating. So much so that we decided we should write it down and share it with the world. Here's a toast - to new adventures with a new perspective....