Today’s reminder that we all can become butterflies like Scott did arrived in my Facebook private messages from a friend, Pam Morgan (no familial relation to Scott). Pam collects my art and also acquired some of Scott’s work last summer via the Hutton Gallery in Deer Isle, Maine. While we were in India, Pam and her partner volunteered to spend a day of their Maine vacation with Loolie & Hershey and take them on an outing from the Creature Quarters Camp, too. Without Facebook these acts of kindness may not have had the opportunity to happen.

Facebook is an alternate reality where it is possible to exist forever even after you die. There are three things you can do with a deceased loved one’s Facebook account:

[1] You can leave it as is and do nothing. But this can pose unnerving as your loved one will still come up in your newsfeed from time to time unexpectedly and strangers from the Facebook Community will still attempt to “friend” him.

[2] You can request Facebook to “Memorialize” your loved one’s account. This way everything he created on his Facebook page—photos and posts and articles and comments he shared—remains visible for all to access and comment on but it’s inactive as far as the Facebook newsfeed and other networking features. (Find out how at this link.)

[3] You can delete the account.

Recently because of the new year I thought about deleting Scott’s personal Scott D. Waddy (Looli) Facebook account. Maybe it’s time. I asked his sister, too. (I think the idea of deletion made us both freak out a little.) I decided to wait awhile and see what felt right. What would Scott want? While everyone must make their own personal choice, I ultimately could not bear to eradicate Scotty Waddy from my Facebook friend list. The decision to memorialize it instead became clear after I read this article online about how comforting it can be to many people to continue to share their memories on their deceased friends’ pages.I don’t know how long it will take for Facebook to realize the Memorialization request. The other pages I created in his name in order to publicize his fine art website and his Going to Goa|paintings by scott morgan book will of course still remain regular Facebook pages that continue to send out messages from time to time. Meanwhile, this small part of Scott’s personality lives on in cyberspace.