As I scrolled through the news feed, I wondered again why FB was still part of my daily ritual. Most posts were re-posts of famous – or not-so-famous – quotes, or people complaining about Facebook, or those who waxed the religious once a week and posted photos of their crazy antics the other 6 days.
Ah well. Facebook is what Facebook does. I usually found some reason in the end to redeem the 45 minutes I spent reading, commenting, liking, ignoring, lol-ing, and re-posting. Snookie’s party – pass. Whisky’s new track -save. …RIP Mike Love? What in hell? I clicked the comment stream to find my cousin Mike died in a motorcycle accident. Cousin Francis was told he was was hit by a bus. My heart tightened in my chest. Tears warmed my chilled face as I read over 200 comments and condolences. My aunt. Oh my God! My aunt doesn’t FB! Does she know? I dialed her number. “Hello?” My heart stopped. It can’t be! “Mike?” “Yeeah..Shell? That you?.. Shell?” “Mike?! How can you be alive? Facebook said you died today!”