back when.

Tonight I came across something that hasn't crossed my mind in years. The social network many of us had before MySpace blew up and Facebook was even heard of... Xanga. Xanga was like a blog for us youngsters. We got on and wrote about all the stuff we did and pinned all the picture badges we possibly could into one post.

I stumbled upon a friend's old Xanga tonight and it brought back so many good memories of us back in 2005. I decided I wanted to try to find my old Xanga and when nothing came up on Google, I remembered that I deleted it years ago. I am kicking myself for that now. Once I got a MySpace I deleted my Xanga...once I got a Facebook I deleted my MySpace. I never regretted either of those choices until tonight. I want to go back and read the things I wrote about at 17 when I thought things were tough then. I wish I still had my MySpace so I could go and see who my Top 8 friends were (I'll never forget the day Cross Canadian Ragweed put me in their #1 spot on their page). Life has changed so much and it would be cool to get a reminder of how things used to be. The good thing about Facebook is that your stuff doesn't get deleted when you want to step away. I have taken advantage of this many times and am currently on a Facebook hiatus right now. But when I come back, the memories will still be there waiting on me.

Because of the internet, I never spent time writing in journals or diaries growing up. I wrote about my life on Xanga or MySpace...and like I said before, despite the fact reading them would probably be incredibly embarrassing and even painful at times, I wish I could see them again. There have even been times I contemplated deleting this blog just because I hardly have enough posts for this to even be considered a blog. I'll be sure to remember how I feel tonight if the urge comes up again.

And to my dear friend who didn't delete her Xanga - thank you so much for the blast from the past. It takes a long time to grow an old friend, and I am so glad you're one of the few who stuck with me this long.

With much love,

Lauren