Reaching Out in the Facebook World: Stadium vs. House Party

This morning, before running out the door for school

Sometimes I forget just how many Facebook "friends" I have.  Each person's experience with Facebook can be tailored to exactly how they want it to be, and for me, it's like being in a huge stadium packed full of people, all walking and talking at the same time, a din, a cacophany of sound all around you.  As you drift past individuals, you can hear brief snippets of conversation and can either move through the sea catching bits of others as you go, or stop for an oh-so-brief moment to offer a nod of agreement, a hug of sympathy, or a few words of support, all the while surrounded by the white noise of the passing throngs. 

And then you move on. 

Sometimes I need to remember what that experience may be like for others.  For some, it may be more like a garden-variety house party, where you'll find plenty of noise and music, but you manage to visit and talk with each person in the room.  Where you'll feel pretty confident that you are now mostly caught up with the goings-on in the lives of all of your friends, whether you've actively participated in their conversations or not.

And sometimes I need to remember that for most of my non-Ds-family IRL (in-real-life) friends, the likelihood is that their experience is far more house party than football stadium, and that my own TMI/Advocacy/Incessant ramblings are heard loud and clear, being shouted across the room, unable to be missed (and certainly causing more than one to don ear plugs...).  I have certainly offended some with my views on right-to-life, have bored others with details of things that mean absolutely nothing to them, and, surprisingly, have touched others. 

I go through my life clueless, unaware of how my former classmates, former workmates, parents of Samantha's schoolmates, family members and long-time friends view our lives, unaware that they even had that wide-open-window view in.  Well duh, it is Facebook, after all... 

And every once in a while one of those non-DS-family, IRL friends, especially the more distant ones that I've had little direct contact with in a very long time, sends me a note to tell me how much they've enjoyed reading my blog, seeing Sammi's photos, following along with our lives, and it shakes me.  It really does.  It is so gratifying to know that in some way I've affected others outside the fold, who have learned something new, had their eyes opened to the worlds of disability and Down syndrome, have attained a new view of what it all means...

I'll continue on my merry way on Facebook, blissfully (semi) unaware of how my afforementioned incessant ramblings may affect others, reaching out to change more minds, ever grateful when they, in turn reach out to tell me they've been listening.