First Date.

Not mine, my son’s.

My 15 year old, “He cannot be growing up this fast”, son.

It’s odd. You know this day is going to come eventually, but when it does it’s terribly surreal. Dressing up, buying a corsage, picking up the girl from her mom’s house, walking to the door together and paying for her ticket in. It was amazing to get to be part of that moment with him. You know, in a walk-50-paces-behind-them-and-try-to-look-invisible, sort of way.

She is a nice, nice girl. I work for the Charter school they both attend, and she’s by far one of my favorite high schoolers. He’s totally at ease around her, which made the 26 mile drive to the dance a great experience. She makes him laugh out loud, and talks enough for the both of them. A good thing, as the car would be completely silent if it were up to either him or I.

😉

So here I am in my classroom. Not chaperoning. Per his request.

It’s ok, I know he loves me.

So, ok then.

I blame my addiction to Facebook.

I’ve wanted to both continue my education AND do some writing for a while now, but I couldn’t seem to stay focused and motivated long enough to accomplish anything.

It turns out I’ve been wasting all my time studying other people’s super clever status updates.

In all fairness, I did spend a lot of time studying the people themselves, which is valuable in one sense. Learning what makes people tick gives you insights, and those insights become the words you write.

But then I asked myself; “Does Facebook really teach me about what makes us all tick?” I think sometimes it just teaches me (with frightening clarity) about all the stuff that ticks us off.

I will say, some folks are great at managing social media. But for me (mousy girl who likes to burrow), the temptation to over-rely on it to connect with people was too much for me. Relationship without risk.

Everyone has a bucket of gifts they’re given to bless people around them. Facebook has been the leak in my bucket.

At any rate,  I’ll say it again; some folks are very adept at managing social media. And I admire them for it. But for a variety of reasons, I was starting to lose respect for myself. After much thought, I realized (and have realized for awhile now) I should switch gears and blog.

Btw, I’m not actually from North Dakota. I just really get a kick out of how they talk.

So ja, ok then.