My sister keeps asking where I find the time for such nonsense as online social networking. Honestly, it doesn’t feel very time consuming. Where else can you read for three minutes and find out what’s going on in a dozen or more of your friends’ lives? I find it much more efficient than wading through emails, texting or spending hours on the phone.

One of the more stunning aspects of Facebook is realizing exactly how many people’s lives have touched yours through the years.

As of today, I’ve accumulated over 250 Facebook friends, and each is like a little snapshot captured along the story of my life.

Sheree and I first met on the school bus on our way to Pine Street Elementary School. Mary Ann and I became best friends in middle school and still keep in touch to this day. Julie was my best friend through college and every time I see her, it’s like we’ve never been apart. Larry and I worked together when I moved to Orlando after college. Tiffany is a beautiful kindred spirit I met in Hollywood while being filmed in a documentary. I met Staci at church last year, and we enjoy commiserating over our pregnancies as we’re due within weeks of each other.

Facebook has been an awesome way to reconnect with friends we made while moving frequently during my husband’s military career. I spent many years wondering what happened to the people we befriended at each duty station, and have been thrilled to catch up with many of them via Facebook. Most of their kids are all grown up now. It just doesn’t seem that long ago that I was burping them and changing their diapers, but now I’m reading about their college parties and dating drama. It’s crazy how fast time passes.

It’s also crazy to find out how many of my 40-ish peers are welcoming grandchildren into the world as I prepare to have another baby of my own. Sometimes I feel like a bit of a late bloomer, but as they say, we all end up taking different paths.

There are a few things about Facebook that are annoying, such as the dozens of silly game and quiz requests one person can receive in a day. I don’t deny that Facebook can be a fun way to waste a little time—or procrastinate on writing projects, not that I’d know anything about that. And some of the quizzes can be fun. Still, I’d feel too guilty wasting time playing Farm Town and Mafia Wars. And do I really need to take a quiz to find out the color of my chakra or which Michael Jackson song defines me?

My husband, Donnie doesn’t like to have too many Facebook friends—so don’t get offended if he ignores your friend request. He likes to keep things simple, and feels overwhelmed when there are too many posts to wade through on his homepage.

Obviously, I’m the opposite—I love hearing what people are up to. I’ve probably had the most fun catching up with people from high school. Facebook is like a high school reunion, but instead of being thrown into a banquet room trying to act like you remember everyone after 20 years, you can set your own pace in getting to know them again. So when the real reunion happens, you actually have things to talk about, making the entire scenario much more comfortable.

Everyone in high school is stuck in a fishbowl, labeled as one thing or another. You never really get to define yourself until you break out of those confines and become who you were always meant to be.

It’s amusing to see how many of us have become more conservative with age, how many binge drinkers and potheads are now deeply involved in their churches or serving as missionaries, how many nerds and outcasts are now happy with their own families and tons of friends.

I’d say that getting to see all these happy endings unfold is the best part of being on Facebook.