I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I’m pretty sure the majority of people on Facebook would say the same things at different times.

It can be…overwhelming. Too much to keep up with. Too many ads for businesses and companies I’ve never heard of. Another thing that zaps my time away from me.

It could be these things, if I let it. But Facebook is also an avenue to stay connected, especially with the people you care about and even the ones you used to know.

I started this post thinking about what happened earlier in my day. I went to lunch with a friend who I knew 20 years ago. Or more. We used to go to camp together. That’s how we became friends and we stayed in the same cabin several years in a row. So we spent our days picking and choosing what activities we wanted to do. I pulled out some of my pictures tonight and we were often right there in the middle of everything…

“Walking” through the woods. (We bumped along the rocks and tree stumps in our bright-colored wheelchairs.)

Swimming in the pool. That was a favorite of mine, except for the fact that we had to wear life jackets. Sorry, but I never got used to that part. I wanted to be free as long as someone was holding me up in the water.

Riding in a canoe and watching other campers flip their canoes. We stayed still and steady. No falling in the water for us. Ever.

I wrote a bit about camp days last year. And I know I have many more stories and thoughts to share another time.

Meeting for lunch brought many memories to the surface. There are gaps in my mind though. I can’t fill in every detail because back then keeping in touch was harder in a way.

There was no Facebook. We were young. As little kids, you don’t always think about the value of being connected in the years ahead. You enjoy the week of fun at camp and you do it again the next year. But for various reasons, I stopped going sooner than most.

Today made me thankful for the chance to reconnect with my friend in person. We didn’t have to start over completely, but with the help of social media we can stay connected and write messages back and forth until we make lunch plans again.