When I was in high school I would hurry home to watch my favorite soap, General Hospital. This was back in the Luke and Laura wedding era so the story lines were pretty juicy. Now, soap operas are passe, victim's of the unbelievable amount of content that exists on cable and online. Instead of a 5 day per week soap, we have several unscripted "reality" shows to keep us entertained. And then there's Facebook. Yes, Facebook can provide its share of soap opera like drama.
In the last several weeks I have found myself glued to my Facebook page watching a drama unfold electronically.
It all started when I joined Facebook several years ago at the urging of my husband who discovered it around the time of his 20th high school reunion. I thought it was completely stupid and could not really understand what the heck I was going to do with it. At first, it was kind of fun linking up with my friends and old acquaintances from high school and college. My rules for friending were simple, it had to be someone with whom I have or had a personal relationship. My first "friends" were my actual friends but then I started getting requests from random people from high school. I remember thinking how nice it was that these people that I hardly know had any interest in looking at my family vacation photos or my random comments. I was a bit of a Facebook whore, saying "accept" to just about anyone that made a friend request. Eventually, I stopped doing that but not before I had friended Shelley, Angela, and Mike.
I had been friends with Shelley in middle school but Angela and Mike, a married couple with whom I had attended high school were another story. Mike's family went to my church and my parents used to chat up his parents after mass occasionally and he had been in a few of my high school classes. Angela I did not really know at all except I knew that she and Mike had dated since very early on in high school.
I had seen Angela and Mike at my 20 year reunion. They looked like your typical married couple and I remember thinking how nice it was that they were still together after all that time. Mike and Angela separately posted things here and there...pictures of the kids and the usual unmemorable comments but nothing of interest...until a status change from Angela stating "Angela is single." This was followed by a flurry of comments from the high school crowd. Things like "so sorry" and "I know this has been coming for a while" were posted. For some unknown reason, their separation bothered me. How could this rather cute seemingly normal couple with so much history just simply break up?
Things got more interesting a month or so later when Mike posted a photo of himself and Shelley (my former friend from middle school). I had to wonder, did they just run into each other or are they an item? Did Mike cheat on Angela with Shelley? So many questions!
Shortly after that Angela posted another status change, "Angela is in a relationship with Joe Blow." Many, many photos of Angela and Joe followed posed in various locations. This was followed by more photos of Shelley and Mike which clearly indicated that they were indeed a couple. So, after something like 20 years together, Angela and Mike had not only split up but had each found themselves a new mate.
I couldn't stop thinking about this situation and I kept digging for information. My friend Sara was able to fill in some of the gaps in the story. She had run into Mike at a restaurant and he had talked about the fact that he and Angela were kaput and, that "it's not always the man that cheats." He also shared that he was now totally head over heals for Shelley. I was sorry to hear that he was mixed up with Shelley who is a total flake. It didn't bode well for Mike's future.
Within 6 months, Angela began posting pictures of a sandy beach spot with a caption reading "what a beautiful place to get married." What followed this were many random photos and comments and she planned her wedding to Joe Blow. Way to get back up on that horse Angela!
With all of this action going on, I began checking all three of their pages just to get the latest news. I also got some dirt from friends. A mom from my kids school, who graduated from my high school, happens to be friends with Angela. She filled in some details there. Apparently, nice normal seeming Angela is a bit of a flake herself so it's pretty clear what Mike's type is. So here's the scoop: Angela married some other guy, not Mike, while she was in college. They lived in a trailer and her behavior during that time was described as odd. So odd in fact that Angela's mother wondered if there was a drug problem. Within a year or 2, this marriage broke up and Angela moved home. The mom from school, Tara, ran into Mike after church one day and told him that Angela was home and divorced. Mike drove straight from church to Angela's house and they immediately resumed their relationship. How romantic, right? Oh, and Angela's new man, Joe Blow, he is someone she used to hang out at the mall with in middle school. So I guess Angela is content to renew, reuse, and recycle her old relationships when looking for a mate.
So, Angela got married to Joe and posted copious photos of their beach wedding. Mike continued to date Shelley and post pictures of them together or pictures of he and his daughters doing fun Daddy's weekend activities. Shelley began posting passive aggressive comments about Angela such as, "Please keep Mike in your thoughts as he goes to court over custody issues once again. He is a good dad and doesn't deserve this harassment." No other custody comments were made after this one. Don't these people know that it's rude to leave their internet voyeurs hanging? At least follow up, how did things turn out?
With Angela now happily married and continuously posting photos of herself, Joe Blow, and Mike's kids, things on Shelley's page started heating up. "I haven't lived with a man in 8 years...here I go," obviously indicating her cohabitation with Mike. Other posts followed discussing the impact of having 5 children in the house (well, part time but still). And eventually, the Christmas day post announcing that she got a "ring" as a gift. This followed by another flurry of congratulatory posts from the masses and an "uh oh" from me. I felt like I was watching a bad horror movie where the girl goes from room to room in a dark spooky house and starts reaching for the handle of the closet door, like, "no, don't do it Mike!" After that things were quiet again, Shelley did not choose to give a blow by blow of their wedding plans as she was too busy posting links to animal rights websites. It got so quiet that I started to hope that the relationship had petered out. Then, bam! Picture of Mike and Shelley at Niagara Falls. Apparently they took a weekend and got married at the Niagara Falls courthouse. Mike posted an "aaaaw" worthy comment about how he "married this beautiful woman today.
Well, just as we all knew the girl would open the closet to a hatchet in the head, 4 months later, Shelley and Mike were over. After 2 years together, moving in together, and uprooting the kids, it lasted BARELY 4 months. The engagement lasted longer. Seriously, she's moved into an apartment and has plans to leave the state in several months! Upon last notice, she and Mike continue to be friends and occasionally post that they are having dinner together. Angela and Joe had a major setback when Joe had a stroke recently. Since she doesn't post about it anymore, it appears that he has made a decent recovery.
Sharing my foray into internet voyeurism has left me feeling a bit creepy. I can't imagine what Mike, Angela, or Shelley would think if they realized how much time and interest I had in their lives. I am sure they would think I was nuts. Their saga, however, seems to be winding down and returning to mundane posts of their kids with Easter baskets or "liking" cheese. The question now is, who is going to entertain me on Facebook?
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