I had a somewhat humiliating experience last weekend that I was embarrassed to tell even just my husband and my mother about. Now, let me start by saying that I do not "friend" people on facebook who I have not actually met in person. I have two exceptions in my friend list, and both are people who are good friends of my husband's but whom I have never had the pleasure of meeting. That said, I'll get back to my story. So there's a girl who I've been facebook friends with for quite a while. We grew up in the same church, and I've known her forever, but I haven't seen her in many years. I ran into her last weekend, was happy and surprised to see her, and greeted her with a big smile and a "Hey!" In response, she gives me the stink-eye, raises her eyebrows in full "Do I know you?" fashion, and walks away. I felt really, really stupid, and drove home that night reconsidering what I post on my facebook and the people I'm "friends" with. 

I figure the people who really care about what's going on with me are the ones who frequent my page often and leave messages. Anyone who doesn't have me hidden in the news feed would see the pictures I post (almost obsessively), and wouldn't not recognize me if they ran into me in person somewhere. If this is the case, why do I invite these people into my daily life, my thoughts, my outings, and opinions, not to mention the lives of my husband and daughter as well? It's something that's been hanging out in the back of my mind for a while now (I've successfully left it there), but I'm starting to think about it more seriously. Don't get me wrong, I think facebook is fun. I enjoy reading about and seeing what my friends are up to, and chatting with people I don't get to see often. I like having a place to put pictures of my kid so that her grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins who live far away can see how she's growing up and still feel like they're part of her life. But balance is necessary. How much is too much to post online? And who are we posting it there for, anyway?

My old friend got unfriended, by the way.