The upside and downside of 'social networking.'

Twenty-plus years ago my sister moved from Indiana to Qatar with her husband and children for her husband's job. They stayed abroad for about 12 years if my memory serves moving to Norway, and then to England before returning home. My Mom would get a phone call from my sister about once a week and my Mom would filter the information obtained to the rest of the family. Also, my sister would come home with the kids in the summer for a few weeks. This was before Skype, Facebook, Twitter, and even before email was used as widely as it is today. When my sister learned that Carl and I were about to venture overseas she and I had a long talk about what I might expect as a trailing spouse. The one thing she said that would have made it easier for her was if Skype had existed at the time to make the distance seem shorter.

Fast forward to today. Every morning I check Facebook to see what all my friends around the world have been up to while I have been asleep. I make comments on posts from friends who I have met in person via the Chumley's Bear Cruise, or places I have lived such as Chicago, San Francisco, or Ottawa, not to mention the people who I have only met in the cybersphere. The number of people I know, and follow on Facebook greatly outnumber those people who I know and hang out with here in Stockholm. As nice as this all is, and as much fun as it is to stay involved in these peoples lives, I miss them. I love to see gaggles of people meeting up and going to Gay Days at Disney, or meeting up for brunch, or off to the movies together, but sometimes it makes me sad too. These are all people I used to do those things with in person, both myself and Carl. We both miss it. We miss the friends we have made all over the world. We miss spending time with them, and doing things with them.

We both appreciate the fact that we have the opportunity to live in amazing places like Stockholm, but it also puts us far away from those who we call friends, and our families. Just in case you ever wonder, we do miss you. A lot, and we can't wait to see you all again.