This Trip Brought to You by Facebook

Rather than being sad when I found out that Jon was going to be taking another "business trip," I immediately started thinking about how I could occupy my time. With no real job or commitments (other than my weekly tap dancing class), I wanted to travel. Specifically, I wanted to travel with my girlfriends.

Fortunately, a friend from home who relocated to California seconds after graduating from college had some time in her schedule to accomodate a guest. This was a great opportunity to finally visit sunny San Diego like I'd been promising for years. As if that wasn't a good enough trip, she then suggested that we drive to Arizona for a couple Royals Spring Training baseball games. (She informed me of this possible plan via e-mail, which I received while still on the Spanish honeymoon. It was hard to contain my excitement, but I figured I better since I was in Spain, after all, with my new husband.) The added bonus of the trip is that we would be meeting up with another friend whom neither of us had seen since high school; they had recently become "Facebook friends."

I have really been dragging my feet with this whole Facebook/mySpace thing. I know these social networking sites are a great way to stay connected with old friends, but I'm really nervous that all my adolescent students would be able to find my page. Not that I would post anything, um, inappropriate, but what if a friend of a friend did and it was linked back to me? Plus, as I am back in the job market, the same reasons apply. (Yes, I am aware of all the privacy settings and know that everything would be just fine.) However, the real reason that I am resisting is because I'm pretty confident that I would quickly become addicted.

I'm not a gossip...exactly. I just have an intense curiosity for knowing what's going on in other people's lives. It's not a malicious desire and I'm not interested in spreading rumors. But I do like keeping in touch with people and hearing about what they're up to. Unlike a lot of people, I am pumped about my ten-year high school reunion and am bummed that I missed the five-year. It's always fun to get updates about people and I'm glad that the Facebook crowd is keeping me in the loop. Everyone I know who is part of that exclusive club, from high school friends to college friends to Germany friends, is pretty persuasive, so don't be surprised if I crack one of these days and ask to be your friend...

But I digress. Only about a week after returning from the honeymoon, I hopped on another plane, this time to San Diego. I'd never been to that part of California, so I definitely had the wide eyes of a tourist. It's beautiful. I was shown all over the city, both by car and by foot. That night, we met up with another friend neither of us had seen since high school who also lives in San Diego now. Another point for Facebook.

The following day I was on my own and ended up exploring Old Town San Diego. As you may have expected, this is a pretty historical area. In fact, it's a State Historic Park. I'm ashamed of my geographic knowledge, but I forgot just how close San Diego is to Mexico. After spending the day there, it's official. Now I want to go to Mexico. Did you ever notice that traveling usually sparks a desire to do more traveling?!?

Luckily we had that opportunity. That afternoon/evening, we hopped in the car and drove to Arizona for a pair of Royals Spring Training games. This is the one time of the year when Royals fans have hope that maybe this year will be different (we did sweep the Tigers in our first series) and we might creep ever closer to that elusive .500 record. That being said, I sort of resent the media guide's assessment of the season, even if it is positive: "Oddly enough, the Royals have reason to be optimistic in 2008..."

The first game we attended was at the Royals home field in Surprise, Arizona. They dropped a heartbreaker to the Padres in the 10th inning. But the game wasn't a total wash, as I got to re-connect with some college friends. That was truly the theme of the weekend. I'm not trying to make it sound like I have a ton of friends or anything...it's just that it was really cool to meet up with people in various parts of the country (or world, in the case of the honeymoon).

Following the game, we drove down to Tucson where we met up with the aforementioned high school friend. Even though I hadn't seen her in close to eight years, it was as if no time had passed. I think we both felt guilty that we let the friendship slide, so there you go, Facebook, another point for you.

On Easter Sunday, after church at the Cathedral, we headed out to the stadium where the Royals faced the White Sox. The boys in blue racked up enough runs in the early innings that they were able to hold on and defeat their Chicago rivals by a score of 6-5. They were surely spurred on by our cheering...and good-natured heckling.

The moral of this story is two-fold. First of all, don't count the Royals out yet. And secondly, do whatever it takes to stay connected with old friends. Even if it involves a huge sacrifice, like taking a vacation down to California and Arizona.