Social Media is a GREAT Way to Reconnect with Childhood Friends!

So, a few years ago a woman I went to elementary school with sent me a friend request on FB. I remembered her name, but we hadn’t been in touch for (gulp) 50 years.

That might not be true, I think we saw each other for an hour or so at a mutual classmate’s house around the time we graduated high school, but still, it had been a lifetime. And our lives had moved in very different directions.

I accepted the friend request, quickly realized we had nothing in common and did not interact with her. Then the FB algorithm did the rest, I stopped seeing her posts. I honestly didn’t notice, she mostly shared tacky Jesus Glurge gifs and described herself as a “stay at home grandma.” So, we lost touch again, no harm, no foul.

In the last few weeks the FB Algorithm in its infinite wisdom decided to share a few of her recent posts in my timeline. God knows why, and boy howdy, did she ever go off the deep end! I am now her worst enemy – not me personally, but as a liberal in the reality-based universe, she literally wants me dead. She shared awful shit, she didn’t write it herself because I doubt she’s ever had an original thought in her life, but yeah, this “Christian grandma” shares this toxic shit day in and day out. FB removed several of the worst of the worst, but there was still plenty of cringe there.

And I will confess, checking her timeline is now my guilty pleasure. I am fascinated by how she spends her days, steeping in a toxic stew of the worst crazy out there. And Jesus. One of my faves was Trump looming behind Joe Biden, and the caption was something like, “Have faith, GOD will take care of Biden!” She’s seriously fucking crazy.

For years I had comforted myself when I saw these crazies online that most are bots and paid trolls. I know that’s still true, but the infection they spread is real and my former childhood friend (TBH, I can’t really remember how much we ever did stuff outside of school) is now lost. Of course she doesn’t see it that way, and she’d be happy to see me burn in hell.

But damn, it’s kinda fun to have a window into her brain. It’s dark and smelly in there, but I can now say I actually knew/know one of these crazies.