A friend is a friend forever...until you get " unfriended"

I am getting closer to Vacation 2013. Today I organized my clothing in our spare bedroom, made a " to-do"list of tasks to complete within the next few days and made a phone call to my favorite aunt in Pennsylvania.

On the agenda for this trip is a visit with a long term friend from my First College. We met in church when I was a freshman & we've maintained a very good friendship ever since then. We haven't seen each other in person for 17 years, so I am really looking forward to spending some quality time with him after years of maintaining contact via email, occasional phone calls & now Facebook.

Although I've MANY gripes regarding Facebook, at the same time I'm grateful that this social tool has put me in contact { or in closer contact} with people whom I otherwise would not hear from at all{ or very rarely}

Which brings me to the phenomenon known as **UNFRIENDING**. If you use Facebook at all, there is a good chance that you have been "unfriended" by someone. There is even a better chance that you have "unfriended" someone. Now I know that online " unfriending" is {usually} not one-and-the-same with actually ending a friendship IRL {in real life}. Its especially awkward when someone whom you DO know & see regularly suddenly chooses to end your association online.  Maybe I'm reading too much into this , but if I've offended someone, I generally wish for the chance to make amends. If I am " unfriended" by an associate without an explanation, I am wary of contacting him or her again offline.

Now I know that, in the great scheme of human interactions, that unfriending is not really much of a big deal. But let's be honest for a moment, when one finds out that an associate IRL has " unfriended" one on Facebook, one feels a bit miffed.

Or perhaps it is worse when someone "unfriends" you and you KNOW his or her reason for said unfriending. An example from my own life: I was e-pals with this woman whom I'd met via  Facebook on a Facebook group for socially-progressive Episcopalians. We have a lot in common & emailed/talked regularly. She lives in a northern city & although we'd never met in person i considered her a friend{ you know, sort of like the "pen pals" of old} Anyhow, when Best Dude & I started dating , this e-pal suddenly unfriended me. Although I'm not positive{ she hasn't contacted me since} I'm almost certain that my changing my relationship status from *single* to *in a relationship* bothered her to the point that she wanted to cut off contact.

Whatever.

Just sayin' .