Once again, Facebook changes my experience of major events. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has heard of a major event first on Facebook– I’m thinking of famous deaths like Howard Zinn and Ted Kennedy especially–but now that we are snowed in, it’s making me feel less isolated. Every time I check in on Facebook, another friend has a story to tell about a snow day menu of chili and homemade cookies or heroic shoveling feats, friends snowed in at the hospitals where they work, faraway friends jealous of the snow and wondering how we’re doing. We’re trading predictions and forecasts and offering sympathy and commiseration.
Unfortunately, there are some ways of connection the Internet still can’t quite manage. My mother-in-law is in the hospital today having surgery, and while she’s only 45 miles or so away, the snow is keeping us from seeing her. Keep her in your thoughts, won’t you please?
