WHEN FACEBOOK WORKS

I have a young friend here in my tiny town. We would do and have done what ever the other needed in time of crisis. Jewels is 40 to my 71 but we have a really nice friendship.

Jewels has had a really rough couple of years. Part of that has been from going through a horrendous year health wise suffering from, Tularemia complications and still isn't totally well. The other part was still being in the process of ending a 15 year marriage.

I met Jewels in my cancer support group and she is the baby of our bunch. We all have kind of taken her under our collective aging wings. She had still been married to Lee when I first moved here. He's a neat , good looking guy that we all liked and she adored.

They were married for 15 years when he suffered metal poisoning from his work that altered his personality drastically and permanently. They painfully separated after I got here and while remaining friends, they could no longer live under the same roof. The poisoning had made him take a violent turn he could not control. The whole story was just a tragic, unfixable shame.

Lee moved out of state and for 3 years, while still married on paper, she lead a quiet life not dating anyone. Then Facebook reared its massive head. Jewels is not on FB but one of her college friends who is, mentioned that one of Lee's fraternity brothers, Dan had found her on Facebook and he had been asking about Jewels. Did Jewels want to be put in contact with him?

She remembered Dan fondly. He had been a good friend to both her and Lee in college but at the time she was completely besotted with Lee. Dan had not been thought of since. However not so with Dan. He had thought of her all these years and had never married.

Jewels told her friend she wouldn't mind emailing Dan and so they started a cyber relationship. They then burned up the electronic and phone lines, totally amazed at how much they had in common and enjoyed each other.

However one night she called me saying that she may have gotten in over her head. Dan wanted to meet and frankly, she was scared. It wasn't like they could just meet for coffee for he lived in Oklahoma. It would take one of them making the long 6 hour trip and if all went well, stay for several days.

I preceded to tell her about when I was first divorced. I had come out of an emotionally abusive marriage and was in no mood to think about a relationship. I virtually did not date for a year. When I finally met a guy I cared enough to date, all I could think of was that I had been such a fool to have waited so long and had wasted a year of my life. Telling Jewels that seemed to push her off the fence about meeting Dan.

She decided to go to Oklahoma so that if things didn't work out, she had the option to leave. As she started making plans for the trip, she was fine but I wasn't. I started getting worried about what I had encouraged.

What if the guy was some sort of pervert that was just looking for a sex slave he could chain up in the basement for the next 10 years, who got his jollies punching women or had thoughts of selling her to the Orient. After all,she hadn't seen him in about 20 years.

Think you can tell I watch “Criminal Minds” too much. However, I would be carrying an intolerable a burden of guilt if this went horribly wrong. I was quite worried and voiced my fears. The encourager became the discourager.

I remembered Ted Bundy and how he was such a clean cut, handsome man that I would have probably accepted a ride from him in those days without concern. Sometimes the deranged are not easy to spot. She assured me that he seemed quite normal but I made her promise to contact me when she got there.

I was quite uneasy till I heard from her. When she did contact me, she said he was as she remembered and was wonderful beyond her expectations. I wasn't really at ease however till she came back home safely. Now I am good.

Right now she is back and so far, her feet are not touching the ground. This child has had a lot of pain in her life for way too long from illness and heartbreak. It is so good to see how this relationship is progressing and bringing her such joy. It is about time.

Dan was snowed in by the big storm in Oklahoma or he would be here now. Hopefully today he can get out. I am pretty sure this will not be a long distance relationship for very long. He is thinking of relocating here. If this works into something long term, that will be amazingly wonderful. If it does not, she at least now has the confidence to reach out and try. She is no longer afraid and is ready to move on.

I am no fan of Facebook and will never join. Blogging has some anonymity. With Facebook, you are out there and so is your personal information for the owners to either sell or not to sell.

As a comedian once said about FB, if those "friends" are not in my life now, there might be a good reason." I had to agree since I tend to hang on to those I care about.

This time however, I think FB did something that could not have been accomplished with out it. So in this instance, I salute you Facebook. Ya done good.

Are you on Facebook and has it brought someone special into your life?