Beautiful Power, What I Know For Sure & #iPPP

I got the time wrong for my kid's curriculum night at his elementary school (I was an hour early!), so I sat outside by the bike rack and took selfies and wrote a blog post.
That's what you would do right?

I have a love, hate relationship with the world wide web and technology.  I love the connecting, the searching, the remembering.  

The first time I was on Facebook, I remember feeling sort of disturbed.  I was friending and connecting with people from a past life and it felt weird.  But now it just feels like dots connected, like puzzle pieces put in their place.  Because of course I should tell my best friend from kindergarten happy birthday even though I haven't really talked to her since the last day of kindergarten 30 years ago.  And it's not weird that I "like" all the sweet new baby pictures posted by the wife of the boy I looooooved in 7th grade.  

Growing up, my real best friend was TV.  The world we live in now, where you can watch a show anywhere on all different kinds of devices, is a world beyond my wildest little-kid dreams.  I mean it's all kinds of amazing.  

But all this amazing-ness and connected-ness can be overwhelming as a parent.  And that's what I hate about technology.  I really have nothing else to say about this part of the conversation.  It is really a whole other conversation.  Tweens and teens and technology? Too much access, too much screen time, too much connected-ness, too much texting, too much porn, too much, too much.  F*ck, now this is really scaring me and this post wasn't supposed to be about that.

Because what I love about technology is all the good, all the beautiful power.  There is so much that is wonderful and amazing (even better than the fact that you can watch old episodes of almost any show evah anywhere on your ipad, which is just beyond).  We have access to people's stories and art and music and culture and beauty and pain and joy and love.  

This week I was reminded about the beautiful power and the goodness of social media.  A friend, a former babysitter of ours, is my friend on Facebook.  We comment on each other's funny pictures, like the sweet or funny comments, congratulate each other when things go well, wish each other luck, etc.  She and I are very different.  Our political Facebook posts are polar opposites which I find sort of hilarious.  Ten days ago, this friend went into labor early and had baby Sawyer.  Being born at 24 weeks means a lot of tubes, tests and concerns.  My heart broke imagining my friend and her husband watching their baby go through all of this, while taking care of their young daughter at home.  I reached out to her on Facebook.  I was invited to a Facebook event for a Day of Prayer for Sawyer where it was suggested we write baby Sawyer's name on our wrists or arms and pray.  

Wade and I prayed for Sawyer.

Picture after picture was uploaded to the event page.  People all across the country praying for Sawyer, thinking about Sawyer, loving Sawyer.  Instantly, my friend knew she was loved, her family was loved and her baby was loved.  She knew in an instant that she was not alone.  That is beautiful, that is good and wonderful, I know that for sure.

Without all this social media, I never would have fallen in love with my latest obsessions:

To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA) is a nonprofit organization that is changing lives.  It is helping to destigmatize mental illness and discussions about suicide and self-harming.  It is about giving people hope.   The Facebook feed is full of inspirational quotes and stories. There are real ways for people to help and get involved.  It is beautiful and powerful. 
Click here to read how it started, it is an amazing story, you might cry.

Humans of New York is about people watching, story telling and noticing the art of the everyday.  Follow them on Facebook and Instagram, seriously, do it.  I am in love with this project.  It reminds me of the people watching I used to do when I rode the bus to and from work a million years ago.  It is beautiful and good and wonderful and real.  It is art.


Click here for more information about Humans For New York.

Without the Internet I would never have never have heard one of my favorite songs that has gotten me through some tough times the last couple months, Better Days by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.  My Pandora channel dedicated to them was my soundtrack this summer, and it is pretty beautiful too.

So yeah, I don't know exactly what to do with teenagers and technology, but I do know for sure to appreciate the good, the beautiful power and the wonderful parts of social media. 


Here's what else I know for sure this week:

• Curriculum Night? More like Curriculum Week. This was my week.  When you have four kids, you have four curriculum nights and it's a lot of information.  I sort of feel bad for whoever is last because by that I point I could care less what they are learning.

• I went to a movie in the middle of the day and it was a beautiful thing.  My pal Steph and I went to an indie flick at the hipster movie theater in a neighboring town.  It was so much fun, I felt like I was 24 and sort of cool.

• The movie In A World is good and you should see it.  This is the indie movie we saw.  Directed, written and starring Lake Bell, a smart, funny woman.  Woo-hoo!!!! Seriously, I'm a little obsessed with her now.  Plus it's a movie about voice over work, so I've been talking like a voice over artist all over my house for a week and everyone loves it.  "Welcome to breakfast, the best meal of the day, it will change your life, how will you like it?," said in my deepest, booming voice.  It's fun.  See it, then try it.  Even just watch the trailer below and try it.  Live a little.

• We are all about football on the weekends.  And football scares me as a mom.  But commentating? Um, no.  If any of my boys want to grow up and be Bob Costas I am totally okay with that.  And doesn't JT look so cute?  Or maybe he'll be a voiceover artist.

JT was helping Tim coach in the booth at Peyton's football game last Sunday.

• This Sunday is one of my favorite Sundays all year because it is the Emmy Awards.  Head on over and watch with me on Twitter (@AngelaYBlood).  Watching award shows are always more fun on Twitter, trust me.

What do you know for sure (this week)? C'mon, we're friends, share what you know. Leave a comment here or on the Facebook page.

  Please come play with me on Instagram @jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed. 

All the pictures in this post were taken with my phone.

I'm linking up today with my friends Greta from  Gfunkified.com and Sarah from SundaySpill.com for the #iPPP link up.  They host a link up where they encourage people to share "your funny, your yummy, your heartfelt, your favorite photos of the week" from our phones. 

Check them out.