“Facebook (FB) Friends aren’t real.”

 I’ve been told that plenty of times. I’ve also been persecuted for using FB too much and for taking it “too seriously.” All of you fellow FBers out there, please pinch yourself to see if you’re real. Ouch! I’m real, too, and now have a little red mark on my wrist.

About a year and a half ago, I came down with a mid-life crisis. Almost everything felt wrong, that things were not what they should be and I was generally unhappy. I’d been a stay-at-home mom for more than a decade, an active military officer’s wife for more than 15 years, and I was living in yet another horrible town the government said I must live in. I had no life of my own. Not unlike many unhappy people, I started playing on the Internet more and more, searching for a new path, a purpose. I called it “career of the week” that I would fixate on. Not only did I diligently research escape plans, but I increasingly found myself on FB. There was a whole world of people out there that I felt like sharing ideas with more than any flesh-and-blood body within a 50 mile radius of me. My local reality was crappy, but I had FB to cling to for my social life. Pathetic-sounding, I know. I was pathetic, pathetically lonely, and FB helped me out of the quicksand.

FB came to the forefront of brightening my social life once again on July 7^th, my fortieth birthday. If I did not have a FB account, as far as birthday greetings from afar go, I know I only would’ve received a card from my mom (Who made my dad sign it, too. He doesn’t like to spend money on such nonsense as greeting cards.), my childhood best friend, and a surprise from a high school classmate who is known for her thoughtfulness. If that was all that happened to acknowledge me being on Earth for another year and the official bridge into the second half of my expected lifespan, I would’ve lived with it and thought it was “nice.”

But, instead, it was much more intense—I was able to spend the day delighted with the outpouring of birthday wishes from my FB Friends! These figments of my imagination type of people out there posted on my wall. Some just typed a simple birthday greeting while others wrote the kindest passages I’ve ever been lucky enough to receive. I got private messages in my inbox, too. And, I got a huge, lovely floral arrangement from a FB Friend. All of these unreal people that I should be suspicious of and not take seriously made me feel wonderful, appreciated, and loved. Thank you very much, my fake friends, you made my 40^th an unforgettable day.