The wonderful things the Internet can do

I've read my fair share of articles critiquing the pros and cons of the Internet. There are those that feel the Internet has done more harm than good and vice versa. Personally, I fall on the green pasture side- I believe the Internet can be used for good, but also can be abused (wow, that sounded like a line from a superhero comic book).

I'll admit, it took me quite some time before I jumped headfirst into the social networking scene. I actually thought Myspace was a friend's personal blog, well because his last name is "Space." I thought that was his way of keeping in touch with all of his friends while he was stationed in Iraq. Now I'm at the point where I've set up a Facebook and Myspace page for the hubs. He wasn't really into it at first, but then a few of his old baseball buddies "friended" and he's slowly turning into a Facebook junkie.

This week I received a random Myspace friend request. You know what I'm talking about, you can't quite figure out if you know the person, but you have to accept their friend request in order to see their pictures. It turns out, I did know this person. Long story short, the request was coming from my uncle's ex-wife. I haven't kept in touch with her, but I thought it was very cool she wanted to friend me.

A quick friend acceptance later and I'm doing what we all do (well, I hope that's what everyone else does), you check out the person's pictures. Hello, it's a social networking site, it's tailor made for our inner nosy-selves. I was able to check out all of my aunt's (I find it rude to call her an ex-aunt) recent racing photos, but one picture in particular struck me.


This is Color, aptly named because he used to change colors as the seasons progressed. My aunt and uncle used to own him when I was a kid. They used to barrel race horses and have owned quite a few over the years. Color was the first horse I rode regularly and I used to ride him at the Sussex County Fair. Color was sold years ago, but just a few months ago my aunt was able to track him down and buy him back. I think he looks good for a 29 year old horse.

That's me on Color, with my aunt and uncle, almost twenty years ago. Seeing that old picture of Color brought back a wave of emotions. What I would give to get back up on a horse again. I'm going back up to my parents' house this weekend and I want to see if I can dig up any more old pictures of Color.

So dear internet haters- I'm adding another tally onto the "Internet is good" column on my sheet today. The rest of my day is going to be filled with old childhood memories of racing around the barn, tacking up horses and the thrill of riding.