facebook withdrawals

with much difficulty and remorse, i recently ended a long-standing relationship with a dear friend. it was tough, very tough. and it's all i can do to not go back, but i know in the end that this is better for me. i need some "me" time. and i'm sure facebook understands.
i met facebook way back in 2005, after enough nerds from my college petitioned mark zuckerberg and associates long enough to give us access to the small, burgeoning social network. timid, insecure, and much more modest than the current incarnation you see, facebook and i hit it off from the very beginning. sure, there weren't any pictures or apps or notes or direct messaging or advertisements or tagging or surveys, but i saw the potential for a true friendship and knew i had to stick it out. so as facebook grew, i grew as well. facebook left college with me and , much like myself, branched out into the real world, no longer limiting ourselves to a college state of mind. the world was our oyster and as long as we had each other, we had it all spinning right in our hands. rain or shine, all the time. we had each other, sharing the laughter and love (sharing the laughter and love).
i was so proud of facebook. every day brought more friends, newer innovations. facebook was bringing the world together and was bringing my world together. through facebook, i've come into contact with old friends, maintained relationships with new ones, strengthened bonds that would have otherwise fallen apart. it is rare that a friendship would fit so seamlessly into my life and weave its way so deeply into the existing fabric, but facebook is different. i have not, nor will i ever find a friend quite like facebook.
but alas, all that glitters is not gold. facebook was starting to change. too busy evolving, facebook never had time for just the two of us. at first i didn't notice, distracted by facebook's insistence that i detail 25 things about me, or find out what sex and the city character i was, or contact the new friends it had found for me. and i went for it, hook line and sinker, falling deeper than i should have allowed myself to. and then, one day i wiped the crust from my eyes and realized i just didn't know facebook anymore. it seemed that facebook had become and anti-social network, a system who's sole purpose was to distract humanity from actual interaction. to make it appear that our friendships were real, but when the had in fact become digitized version of the bonds we once knew.
i stood aghast, not believing that i had let this happen, let my life become nothing more than the next release of the sims. i tried to unplug myself from the matrix, but you know they say that breaking up is hard to do, and breaking up is hard to do. several attempts fell short, but i persisted. facebook really was a great friend, but we just aren't in the same place in our lives right now. it had to be done.
and so, as midnight struck and may 1st turned into may 2nd, i officially deactivated my facebook account. it seemed like such an easy thing to do. and yet i find myself returning to the homepage, no longer able to access the network. on the outside unable to look in, i find my self scratching at the opaque glass, hoping to create an opening that would allow me to see my old friend again. my dear old friend.

i miss you facebook. but this is for the best.