Facebook Etiquette

You've been there! I've been there! We've certainly all been there! The time vortex of Facebook. We spend nothing short of half our lives spying on others lives. Yes, I realize it is a heck of a lot safer than sitting outside of their house to see what your friend is eating for dinner. And it's certainly a whole lot more socially acceptable than following their kids to the latest birthday party, field trip or church visit to see how freaking adorable they are! 'Cause they are! We love love love to see what others are doing.

But...

Lets be clear! I have done this and so have you, so don't lie. It's kinda like Photoshop for models. We take pictures of ourselves only to transfer, process, or fade it. Which ever makes us look the best. Auto correct and red eye reduce and crop because, why on earth does my arm look so fat! Does my arm always look that fat? Excuse me while I go check. I'm sure someone from my graduating class will see this and be thrilled to see that I have fat arms now. Let me assure you. It's ok to be you. It's alright to be caught allowing your stomach to buldge just a little. Posting this will make the rest of the world take a sigh of relief. We are all normal, untouched-up, un-cropped, awkward at times. Now if I'm mid scream with one eye half shut eating a donut don't you dare post that!

And with the fear of sharing the real us we also share too much. Seriously too much! We think our bosses aren't looking on our Facebooks when we call in sick for work to see why. They are and those photos you didn't post but your bestie did are incriminating. No you wont be seeing the inside of the slammer...hopefully, but you risk losing your job or at the very least your bosses respect. You post what you ate. What you didn't eat. What you drank and whoops what you drank too much of. You post who you are pissed at, who you are in love with and who flipped you off on the highway, but it wasn't your fault. Lets be honest sometimes it's our fault. Reign it in people. Once it's out there we can't take it back. So just like you were told as a child. At least I hope you were told this as a child. Filter your thoughts before you say them! Filter your Facebook!

Mom's and Dads, yes, your kids are super adorable. However, taking a picture of Johnny in the tub sans any clothes is not a good idea. The world wide web is certainly not a place you want to be placing photos of your cute little bundle with nothing but suds on his heiney no matter how cute those dimples are. Ok, as a mother it's super funny when you see a little one decide to pee right in the middle of the park. However, whipping out your phone and posting your class clown on the net, also not a good idea.

And to those of you posting on behalf of others... if you have a friend and would like to keep said friend. Do not post a picture just because you look hot and she or he does not. I'm not sure there is a word in the dictionary that would describe how she or he will feel. Unless pissed off is in the dictionary!

We get it! You rock and we do not. You finished 57 things all before the sun came up. We wish we could however, here is what you are doing for yourself. SETTING THE BAR TOO HIGH!!!!! You will swiftly become the mom who is asked to make 147 cupcakes for the bake sale that starts in 3 hours; the dad who certainly has enough time for t-ball coaching, the local big brother program and your sons best friends, brothers Eagle Scout Project. Best to to keep the humble bragging or just plain straight up bragging to a minimum.

Now as you all think I have just checked out your Facebook pages and are talking directly to you. Please draw your attention down to the hysterical Facebook posts I found. PS Spelling and punctuation matter.

Your words can say so much more than you think!

Spelling and punctuation matter! Particularly when you are taking the time to insult others. Oops!

Here's What I Learned

Learning something new about yourself can and usually is difficult. It is usually wrapped in the disguise of an action or event you have just gone through. Often it takes time to realize what you have learned....

2013

Every year I write an account of the previous year in hopes of looking back and learning from the past. This year I found myself hitting my first ever, writer's block. I couldn't find what I had to learn from 2013. I didn't welcome a baby into the world. There were no packing of boxes to celebrate a new home. I hadn't graduated college or gotten married. I was reaching for the positive to learn from. Unfortunately I was having a hard time with finding the easy, the positive, the rose colored past I wanted to use to inspire others.

I celebrated 10 years of marriage. It was not an easy year and I looked forward to not looking back. I celebrated the big 33 (Go Larry Bird!), but found myself wondering what I had to aspire to become. I had no clear cut path to 34 and was terrified  I ran my first and second marathon in hopes of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. I failed. May brought a life sentence of gluten free and a stigma I wished I could hide from. I marched into June and August and felt the heart break and loss of control while I watched paramedics and doctors work tirelessly to stabilize my youngest from his seizures. I thought I would never get through in one piece. I learned to live on less while saying goodbye to two jobs. And I became a stay at home rip your hair out teach your children and yourself patience mom. Boy was it a year....

It's April some of you will notice. "Don't you think it's a bit late to recap 2013?" For goodness sake it's well into 2014. Sometimes learning takes time. On a very long and ridiculously difficult run this morning I realized something that made 2013 make so much more sense. Sometimes, oh frankly most of the time, learning takes pain. The year 2013 will hold hurts and heartbreaks for me, honestly more than I thought I could handle.

Here's what I learned...

I am strong. I mean really strong. Stronger than I thought I could be and certainly stronger than I wanted to be. I survived LIFE. Hard, cold ridiculous to deal with, don't want to get out of bed life. And so did the rest of you. 2013 made me happy for 2014. I am a smarter and more determined runner who puts in the time and energy to be better but is okay if better is already my best. I am a harder worker. I am a more patient mother. I am a loyal and crazy wife. I have compassion for those that feel heartbreak from a sick child. I judge the nutrition choices of others far less than I ever have. I put in the time and energy to simply survive 2013 and am happy today that I did.

So...

 No matter what 2014 holds. I know I am strong enough to make it. Life may get worse and it might get better, but it's life and today I can chalk it up to some extra learning.