Monday, October 29, 2018

Happy Birthday My Friend!



https://scontent-sjc3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/1381347_10151734550419157_1190757146_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_ht=scontent-sjc3-1.xx&oh=719900ee4669099d6bbe0216b5350cb6&oe=5C7A033E
I probably turn on my computer at least once every single day. And you know if your member or have a Facebook account, Facebook notifies you when people in your group have birthdays. I daresay that I consider this invaluable but it's nice and I usually go right then and there over to whoever's account birthday it is and leave a comment. This morning was no different in two of my favorite “Al's” came up. This is not a big deal except for one of the “Als” is dead and has been for a couple years. His name is actually Albert and he is my next-door neighbor when I lived in Murray.

Nothing exemplifies the huge machine that Facebook is more than these birthday notifications. Nothing is going to deter them from throwing up whatever information is written on their memory banks. I doubt that is by design that notifications spring up long after the individual is deceased. It's just that some of is too lazy to go in and clean up the residuals. Who knows, maybe that's exactly what Facebook wants to keep this record active for as long as the system exists. I must admit that after the initial shock of seeing my friends name come up and then the flash of anger at having lost a person dear to me and then thinking to yourself/myself why not? Treat the individual or notification as if they still existed on this plane of reality. Now Albert is not the only one this happens with. There's also my good old buddy Clarence McIntire M.D. Who also, I dearly miss. That's the only two I can think of right off. Maybe there are others and maybe there next of kin have actually gone in and remove them from the Facebook “family”. Seriously, Facebook is a relatively new phenomenon and what few people I know who are dead croaked long before Facebook existed.

I don't know what it was that clicked between Albert and me. We were fairly different in a lot of ways. Albert didn't really understand my way of thinking. Albert was logical and concise and very practical. Albert was exact he knew where everything was that he owned. He could never understand the fact that I did not really know what the budgets of my life were, how much I spent on this or how much I spent on that. I didn't do the books in the family. You is from a time when the had the family controlled everything. Many times he just looked at me and shook his head. That was okay he tolerated me and like a puppy fed once I returned over and over again to his porch to visit.

If Albert were still alive today Albert would be 90 something. I wonder if it's still be able to come out of his house as he always did and sit on the porch steps and visit with me. It would be different now even if he were alive and can do that since I don't longer lived next door. I really have not been back to my neighborhood sense I left the house couple years ago. I would however return today to my old neighborhood and Murray and sit in my power chair opposite Albert city on his porch and visit for as long as he could stand it. I miss you Albert happy birthday wherever you are and I hope your time is enjoyable.

No comments: