Family Heirlooms

I just glanced at my friends list on Facebook and noticed the section of "family" is huge, and I don't even have all my first cousins listed there. My mother would be so proud. She took such pride in family connections...at times I cannot help but wonder about the wisdom of some of that pride. We do not choose the blood connections. I am one of 19 grandchildren on the maternal line and my mother was one of 19 grandchildren on her paternal connection. In addition I enjoy the relationship of a number of "step-cousins" as my mother's generation resulted in many blended families. I'm not sure anyone else on my friends list shows so many relatives in the "family" section. Not all with familial connection to me have been pulled into that list on my page and I wonder if most people just choose not to use that feature.

Many times I have lamented the birth of Facebook after my mother's death. Her phone bill and postage expense could have greatly been reduced. She stayed in touch with old friends from school and never allowed anyone in her family to loose touch. We lost her in 2000. She had just started using e-mail, and was most distressed if we didn't immediately reply to one of her missives. Many times I would receive a phone call asking why I had not responded to her e-mail, sent nearly an hour before. Did I mention that she hated answering machines too? An hour away from home might result in an overheard comment on my answering machine "they've got that *!*&#*! machine on again", only to see three e-mails; one of substance and two follow-ups.

She was far ahead of her time. Social networking, instant messaging and daily posts on blogger would have opened all new vistas for her...actually she expected that before the technology was even available.