"Like, whatever, we'll always be friends!"

While I was in Ohio last weekend, I stopped in Cleveland to see Donna and the family. While I respect her privacy by attempting to keep anything I say about them to a minimum, I couldn't help noticing something I had to write about.

I have lots of friends all over the country; some are older, some are my age, and some are much younger, like Jessi and Nicole. I don't get to visit any of them as often as I'd like, and the older ones and I will exchange wistful emails and write letters. When I do see them, it's bear hugs and even some tears when we say goodbye, because we know it's going to be another long stretch before seeing one another again. To me, that's normal.

But for the younger generation, the Myspace generation, it's not. Goodbye for now, goodbye for a year, two years, or tonight -- it's all the same. It's all "like, whatever, don't cry, I'm gonna see you online later!"

As Nicole was jumping out of my car when I dropped her off at home, she held up a fist. "Alright, come on, pound it, dude," she said, already opening the door before I could hit the parking brake.
I was taken aback. "Nicole, I'm not going to see you for a long time, you know..." I was expecting a hug, an "I'll miss you," something...
She unlatched her seatbelt, looking me in the eye.
"I know. But you're going to be online later."

In a way I envy them, this generation of instant gratification and borderless friendships. But in a way, I don't. I like my tears and my bittersweetness and my carbon-based lifeform friends, not pixellated ones...