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| A bulk freighter passing as seen from the veranda. |
As a relatively fast reader, I don’t spend a lot of time in Facebook. I can quickly scroll through the posts and photos in no time at all. Every few days I may post a photo and comment, mostly relatively generic about our travels with a link to our site.
Perhaps my FB friends tire of my perpetual posting of links to our site as we strive to build our readership as well as keep friends and family informed as to our whereabouts and to see what others are up to.
I assume that most, including us, who post on Facebook have some sort of agenda whether it’s to share their daily meanderings, photos of kids and grandkids, places they’ve been, people they’ve met, and of course, their views on almost every imaginable topic.
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| A new bloom in the yard. |
In a way, Facebook is a means for all of us, ourselves included, to boast a little about who we are and what we believe, which isn’t always possible in the arena of our day to day lives. When are any of us in front of an audience of 100’s able to spew out our often mindless drivel or to boast about events in our daily lives?
Of course, providing support to those in pain or in sorrow is another way to express ourselves in Facebook. Offering a heartfelt happy birthday, anniversary wishes, wedding good fortune or return to good health is often one of the most altruistic means of sharing who we are in this medium.
On occasion, we see a friend sharing highly personal details of their lives, beyond the usual scope of sharing such as in berating a spouse, family member, or friend or at times, their own personal failings. I’m often amazed at how quickly their “friends” respond, offering support without judgment, at least not on my FB page.
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| Flowers blooming in the yard. |
Every morning before I begin the day’s post I check out Facebook, curious to see what’s going on. For us, with no face-to-face contact with any of our family and old friends, it’s interesting to see how everyone is doing, where they’ve been, along with their myriad photos. It’s especially enjoyable to see posts and photos of our kids and grandkids.
This morning, after a fitful night’s sleep, I didn’t get out of bed until 7:30. Feeling as if half the morning was half gone, I rushed to shower and dress and begin the day’s post. Opening Facebook, I noticed a new friend request from a woman Tom had met on a prior cruise sometime ago. Here’s what she wrote (for her privacy, I’ve left out her name):
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| The neighbor’s newly planted garden coming to life. |
“Really enjoying catching up on your adventures. We chatted with your husband Tom aboard Brilliance of the Seas (just a short conversation) as I had been reading posts on Cruise Critic and I believe we were on a cabin crawl together. I lost your website info until I found a post on Repositioning cruises yesterday. I’ve been reading ever since… You are doing exactly what my husband and I want to do when we retire. Right now we cruise about 8 weeks a year. We just got back from your favorite place, Petra and our next trip is aboard Explorer of the Seas transpacific to Australia in April (I see you are aboard in 2017) Anyway, keep up the posting and pics…really enjoying them. I especially like it when you give up your tips/secrets to travelling. Continuing good health to both of you.”
With enthusiasm, I accepted her “friend request” and look forward to responding to her after I’m done posting today. (Most often, I respond to FB comments and emails after I’m done uploading the day’s new post. Focus is imperative in order to get it done in a timely fashion).
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| Another cloudy day as we road along the beach road. |
Her post put a smile on both of our faces. How magical it is, all the people we’ve met in our travels, some of whom we’ve been able to stay in contact via Facebook and many via email. In many ways Facebook has proven to be an excellent medium for us to stay in contact with friends and family and, to make new friends along the way.
One week from today, we’ll be flying to Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu, for another one month stay. By next week, we’ll be posting preliminary expense totals for the time we spent on this island. When leaving the next island, we’ll post the grand totals for the four months we’ll have spent in the Fijian Islands.
Have a glorious day!
Photo from one year ago today, November 29, 2014:
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| One year ago, we stopped to admire more beaches in Maui. Most are sandy, pristine and still unspoiled, one of the many treasures of the Hawaiian Islands. In a few days, we were heading to the Big Island of Hawai’i to await our family member’s arrival for the holidays. For more details, please click here. |