I Should Have Known Better

I don't like being overly exposed online. My name is not on this blog. That isn't an accident. I like having a little place of freedom where the thoughts are my own, and can run free. An awful lot of my existence is at the mercy of others' opinions. These are mine. I write this for my own entertainment, and that of a few people that I have shared it with. If you aren't one of those, you are trespassing; get out, please!
A couple of acquaintances have written on their own little acres of the internet of their experiences with Facebook. Unhappy experiences. Dissatisfied experiences. I find those acquaintances to be people of some significant intellect. I should have listened to them.
I have a very difficult time telling the baby girl "no" about anything. Great big daddy flaw, not terribly uncommon. So when she was putting up a Facebook page for the roommate last night, and I walked in in the middle of that procedure, she said she'd like to do one for me. The "no" was fully formed in my mind. It was working its way to my lips. And yet, when it emerged, it sounded remarkably like "yes."
It didn't even take 24 hours before there were notifications. People who already have more than ample, multiple means of access to me were asking to be added to various Facebook categories. To me, calling a person a friend means something. Friendship runs right past the "How's your family" or "How's your church" niceties. After all, if you're friends, you already know those things. Friendship means, for instance, that we will spend time together outside of working hours. It means that we share interests, and will probably spend some time pursuing those interests together. I don't have many friends, by my definition. And I don't need many. I pretty much have four. They are exceptional people, every one. They love music and baseball. They are fun and they are funny. They are even forgiving of my corny/sarcastic/just plain bad jokes. They graciously seem to generally tolerate me, and I deeply enjoy each of them. There are few times more precious to me than time spent with them. They are about all I need.
Typing sentence fragments on someone's "wall" does not, to me, constitute friendship.
As soon as I can catch up with the baby girl, my Facebook sojourn will come to an end. I'll try a little harder to listen to my acquaintances next time.
Even if it means saying "no" to the baby girl.