The Vortex

I recently read Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. An amazing book in so many respects. In it she refers to something she calls "The Vortex". This is a name, a place or an object that recalls something else and your mind begins to take a journey that recalls many things all at once. It's almost as if time stops. I found this especially interesting since I experience something similar online. My version is called the black hole and it goes something like this: I sign in to Facebook. I check my friends updates. Then I see a long forgotten acquaintance from high school commented on a friend's picture. I click to see the picture. Then I see someone else I recognize. Then I land on their page (don't they know they can restrict it? fortunately for me, no). Then I see they own a company that makes baby clothes. And they have a blog on their site. So, I start reading that. Then hours later, I am looking at some girl I don't even know's pictures from her family vacation to dig potatoes in Idaho. Sound familiar? This is also usually the point when I realize either my phone is ringing, my baby is crying, the water on the stove is overflowing or my husband is standing over me asking what I am looking at. And I have to sheepishly answer, some girl I don't even know's pictures from her family vacation to dig potatoes in Idaho. Black Hole? The Vortex? Whatever you call it, it sure beats answering the phone, soothing the baby, turning down the water and humiliating myself to my husband.