Off Limits

There are a few things that should be kept locked up and off limits. Sharp objects and dangerous chemicals should be kept away from small children and computers should be off limits from my dear daughter and daughter-in-law when they spend time together. They mean well, God bless them (as we say here in the south). I knew I was in trouble yesterday when I answered the telephone to hear my daughter exclaim: "welcome to 2008!". She followed her exclamation with this: "have you checked your e-mail yet this morning?" me: "no, I haven't, why?" her: "you have a Facebook account, and, you have friends!" me: (groaning) "Wh' huh?" ... then the futile protestations began, but it was too late. The 'damage' had already been done. They had spent Friday night together in the Capital City and they thought they knew just what I needed. I want to go on record by saying that I am not a willing participant in this world of electronic social networking, I've done my share of kicking and screaming. The very last thing that I need is to be sucked into any time-wasting black hole! The girls have been extolling all the positives attributes of Facebook for months. I laughed at them, I reveled in the fact that my generation was beyond this, we were being spared. Or so I thought, at least until now.... maybe I'd go ahead and sneak a peek, just to see who was there. There were already quite a few responses, my daughter was right; they had added a profile photo and some personal information, where I had gone to school, things like that. I wrote on someone's "wall" (left a public comment) and sent an e-mail to old and new friends alike. Oh, and did I mention that I found a friend I hadn't heard from in years? She's living in London and has two grandsons, she'd posted photos, too; the boys are so cute! We've already sent messages back and forth! I'll admit it, I have been the loudest Facebook protester, I can't cave too soon, I do have my pride after all. The holidays are coming, I'll need to hide the computers from the girls when they're here, who knows what's next? God bless them.

Life is Good!