I was leafing through an old friend's recently posted Facebook album a few minutes ago when I ran across an outdoor birthday party photo that really got me nostalgic. It hit me that I went to grade school with everyone in the photo; if they weren't in my class then they were within a year or two on one side or the other. I have literally known them all my life. The backdrop behind the smiling faces, mixed drinks and party favours was the concession road on which I grew up, four miles west of our place, and behind the road sat a farm that bordered our grade school. Although much has changed in the intervening years, the camera shot showed nothing of it. The photo could as easily have been taken thirty years ago as today and all the the people in the photo could have been the kids I remember instead of the adults they have since become.
On a day to day basis, I'm not a part of that world any more, and a few years ago I'd most likely have never known the party took place no matter how good my social networking skills were. It's important to live in the world that's in front of you, and I try hard to do that, but it's also kind of nice for those of us who have moved away to be able to keep in some kind of near real time touch with friends, neighbours and home folks. If nothing else, it serves to keep me honest. There is much truth in the statement that it's hard to pull the wool over someone's eyes that was standing in the room watching your diaper get changed ! :)
Ready for Christmas
1 day ago
2 comments:
I have felt similarly a few times, though probably not as powerfully as I don't have any real contacts from growing up in one place for a long time. I agree it's good not to live in the past but it's good to appreciate it and reminisce from time to time.
While I think sometimes social networking goes too far, I've appreciated the occasional reminder of where I've been and how far I've come. I think I'll always be a bit nostalgic for Guelph even though I left only a few years ago and was only there a couple years.
There is a lot of drivel on social networking sites, no doubt about it.
It's hard to describe the feeling I got in a concise way. I remember playing with every one of the middle aged folks in the picture when we were all kids. Seeing them all standing there, against exactly the same backdrop where we played our games and where their kids now play their games was a gift.
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