Reason #429,650,912 That I Love the Internet

So often I find myself begging time to slow down.  But then there are days (like yesterday) when all I wanted to do was hit fast forward.  There was too much crying and too much whining from them.  And not enough patience and forgiveness from me.  It made for a very long day.

As someone who stays home with littles, I don’t have the opportunity to have much adult interaction.  Sure, I see people at school drop off and pick up, but it’s a little quick chat here and there.  I occasionally go to lunch with friends, but if you’ve ever been to lunch with me and my crew you know that the conversation is staccato at best and there are a lot of interruptions.
“Sit down and eat”
“Do not touch that lady’s hair again!”
“Oh!  Don’t pick that up off the floor and ea…too late.”

But this is where social media comes in.  Social media platforms are an integral part of my life.  It’s my connection with the real world.  And so I post.  I post a lot. ( Too much for some, I know.  Just hide me if you want.  I’ll never know.)  And I connect with real! live! adults!  And we laugh at my kids together and talk about important issues and tell jokes and make witty observations.  Those are the things I miss most about working outside the home.  Social media gives me the chance to have a little of that.  It makes this stay-at-home gig seem not quite so lonely – especially on a day like yesterday.

Yesterday, in the midst of all the tears and snotty mumbles, I got an email from a company I am working with on a post and it asked a lot of reflective questions.  One of them asked how friends would describe you.  I’ve never been good at those, so I reached out to my friends on Facebook.

And boy, oh boy, did my friends come through.  On a day when I was feeling like quite the failure, I found a big boost in an unexpected place.  You guys picked me up without even knowing it.  Words like engaging, vivacious, talented, artsy, faithful, generous, personable,  inspiring, confident, cheerful and creative, smart and compassionate, strong and honest.  Wow!  (Y’all are too kind.)

I don’t say this to brag on myself but to brag on you, on this community.  You can find experts that tell you that all this hyper-connectivity is bad for us.  That we aren’t created to handle this many relationships.  But I disagree.  My online friends have become my real life friends.  I’ve reconnected with some great friends I had lost contact with and I have cultivated friendships with people who were once just acquaintances.   Staying at home is lonely.  But you guys make it less so.  And I’m thankful for each one of you.