my absense

My absence in the last 15 days, as most of you are aware, is related to my health. About 10 days ago I came down with a nasty cold which morphed through several seasons all on its own, from sore throat to back drip to nasal congestion and now a cough and laryngitis. All of this was accompanied by insomnia and/or inability to sleep despite complete and utter exhaustion.

But in addition to my current germ battle, also comes another battle for my attention: Facebook. That’s right, I have facebookitis. I’m addicted to facebook. And it’s been particularly challenging since most of my family and friends and almost all my blog friends are on my friends list and casually updating their page every day with pictures, quotes, comments etc. I’m glued to their every move, trying to keep up with their world (in addition to my own). In the non-web-world this would be considered “nosey-neighbor” behavior; like the old lady next door who’s dog barks at every opportunity and soon after, her little beady eyes are staring at me from her first floor window. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my neighbor. She’s a doll and to be perfectly honest, it’s nice having a “free” security system permanently installed on my block.

And I suppose her behavior is somewhat acceptable at her age, when she has nothing better to do than watch what others are doing and have an opinion about it. I particularly find this beneficial when I want to catch up on my gossip in the neighborhood. She knows everyone and everything….good and bad.

Like how the couple across the street are getting a divorce and that the husband moved out last spring.

Or how the family diagonal from her are going on a vacation to Vermont for 10 days (and that she’s offered to pick up their mail and newspapers so it doesn’t look like the house is empty).

Or how the old man down the road bought a new dog from the dog shop in town (which has since been closed down by the Health Department or something) and how he “illegally” let’s it wander through the neighborhood. This pisses her off to no end, let me tell you!

She’s also on the up-and-up on who bought and sold what house in the area and her history as a healthcare professional shines through when she shares her advice on healthy eating and the “good” doctors to go to in the area for certain medical problems. She’s also pretty knowledgeable about home remedies and has even offered me her pram to walk the baby in the summer.

I often wonder if I’ll end up just like her in my old age…staring out my window and taking notes of everyone’s coming and going behavior. Then again… one might already attribute this behavior with a more modern disease…that’s right… facebookitis. I think I just aged about 50 years without even realizing it.