I don’t know whether you have a Facebook account or not.

I do know many of my older readers have either switched to reading me in The Sentinel of Gloucester County or have lost track of me altogether because they just don’t do computers.

Personally, I love Facebook. It has allowed me to reconnect with old friends and acquaintances — it is perfect for that — even though once we have found each other again, there’s usually not all that much to say or talk about. A gap of 20, 30 or 40 years is sometimes just too big to fill with small talk, or any talk. Our lives have simply gone on without each other’s participation and you can’t just ignore all that time.

But, especially now that I have cancer, Facebook has become my biggest support group. When I post a status report on my fight against my bladder cancer, hundreds of Facebook friends often chime in with messages of cheer and support, offering whatever they have to offer — prayer, vibes, thoughts, mojo.

The other day, when I observed my 69th birthday — Dear heavens! How can that be? — I received nearly 500 greetings from Facebook friends.

As I’ve said more than once before, getting older is all a surprise for me. I never gave much thought to growing old. Never once thought about turning 50, at least not until I was 49.

Facebook is challenging, though. I like a lot of my Facebook friends but I don’t much care for their politics. The easy way is to unfriend people. “I don’t like your attitude about gun control/politics/religion/pick one, so I will unfriend you.”

But I usually like the person, even if I don’t agree with him or her.

So what I do is unfollow them. They remain on my friends list, I just don’t see every post they make any more. This seems to work best for me.

I guess I can do this in real life, as well. If I like a person but don’t agree with his politics, I can just ignore what they say that I disagree with. Simple, huh?

(Anyway, for those of you who don’t know: I have five chemo sessions left and should be done before Thanksgiving. That means I could have my surgery in early January. And it means I could be cancer free by Spring.)

So feel free to ignore me whenever you don’t agree with what I’m saying.

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