SHEsaysWITHaSMILE.blogspot.com

part of me wanted to title this "score 1 for facebook!"  -because, honestly.  fairly recently i heard two, so called -adults-  arguing.  and one said to the other...    well, he threatened to post harmful information on facebook as a blackmail kinda thing..

the way this platform is used..  could break your heart.   and i myself have experienced both its good and evil sides.   good, like, being able to connect with the people i grew up with in hayward, and organize a reunion, and reconnect with people from my neighborhood that i hadn't seen in too many years to mention.    -hard to put a quantitative value on such an occasion, but there is something so valuable about those re-connections..   even when they don't bloom into coffee once a week friendships..  there is an undeniable, soul penetrating kind of power you get to marinate in for a long time after...

i've been working at finding a -what shall we call it?   -facebook balance.   so, i keep my visits short and sweet

but!   i recently met sharon fothergill, and i would have never met her, if not for facebook.   -and what a meeting it was!  the neatest, and strangest, and most wonderful thing..  the way she felt so immediately like family.  like i had met her, and known her, for as long as...

a long, long time.  i think i asked three times if we had met before...   i sat write next to her at casa orozco in livermore, where we had lunch before doing some wine tasting at concannon and wente.   -we- can be seen in the photo above:  me, my beautiful mom, sharon, her sister, my beautiful aunt betty...  and this new beauty: sharon fothergill.   we could all chat so easy together...  catch up...  learn...  trade stories...

"..are you sure we haven't met before..."   

anyway..   i just think it's the greatest facebook story, how i got to meet sharon fothergill.  it's my favorite facebook story..   because, one day..  about 2 or 3 years ago, my mom sat with laptop in hand, during a visit with her sister, my aunt betty..  (who is actually sandra, and who i'm named after, but i'll save that story), anyway..   my aunt hadn't heard of facebook, didn't really know what it was about, and my mom, she was just gettin' warmed up...   and was tellin' my aunt betty how you could find almost anyone..   and asked her if there was anyone she wished she could find...

i think, in fact, it is the first name that came to my aunt betty's mind...  sharon fothergill.   -sharon fothergill, taught my aunt betty how to drive!  when she was 16!  a stick shift!   -and they were neighbors for a while in their youth, and then parted ways, as happens in life..   and she hadn't seen her in over..  40 years! i think it was

so, my mom,  -total sleuth by nature.   she typed in fothergill, and just about as quick as she did, sharon's picture popped up, my aunt betty recognized her instantly, and smiled a great big smile, and then the two of them, my mom and aunt, started to leave a message for sharon..   explaining they were the vaughn sisters..  etc., etc,

well!  sharon was on facebook when they sent the message, and write away, my mom and aunt got to see a message that said, "it's me!"  confirming for them, that this was THE sharon fothergill

turns out, sharon fothergill, has grown children, living not too far from my aunt betty, and so they planned a lunch date.  -so fun to hear them retell the story,   -cuz they were both nervous, like two people on a blind date might be...

and my aunt betty...  she created a great big lunch spread to welcome her long lost friend, sharon..   you know how people talk about "southern hospitality"   -well,  -southern california hospitality is what it really is..and my aunt betty invented it.

i forget what all she said was on the table, but it was enough for sharon, some strangers  and their extended families.. and i know my aunt well enough to know..  it was beautiful and delicious!

sharon couldn't believe it.   "is all this for  -me?"   -made her feel warm and welcome immediately.   and then they got in one of those several hour, non-stop talk visits

i can't remember exactly.. but i think it was just the two of them, the first time..  my aunt betty and sharon fothergill..

then eventually..  my mom, and uncle dave -my mom and aunt's brother, who employed both my aunt and sharon fothergill in the shoe department at the k-mart in san fernando.   

i can know the magic of the visits without being there, can't you..   all of them re-living their stories from when they were 16...  and up..   first jobs, first cars, first boyfriends, and husbands..

being able to put names with faces, and places with stories; really knowing what and who the other person is talking about

there's nothing like it, really.      /write sue~sue...

so, i just loved being able to be a small part of it..    to meet sharon myself..

AND!  the fact my mom was able to source out a picture!  which has my aunt betty and sharon SITTING ON THE CAR SHE TAUGHT HER DRIVE IN...

i'll have to check with my research guru and bloggerman friend, leonard, to see if he can find out exactly the make/model of that...  what is it?  1949 chevrolet?  or my car-enthusiast friends down at tully's.. they'll know!

in any case,

how awesome is that?!    -apparently my mom stuck it on the refrigerator and waited with a quiet excitement for her sister to spot it..  

she looked write past it.   -had to have it pointed out to her, but once she did...   the very definition of a heart smile.

same thing, when sharon fothergill came to visit...   they tried to see if she would spot the picture, among others, on the refrigerator..

had to have it pointed out too!    -and then her heart smile.

and then i got meet sharon only weeks ago...   and see the picture, and hear the stories live...   and i started to really like facebook again

so, "thank you!" mr zuckerberg...

she was so exciting to meet!    and now, the three of them..  they visit several times a year...  friendship picked up write where it left off... which all the real ones do.   and it wouldn't have happened with a phone book, or email, or snail mail..  

so, score another +1 for facebook!