I've always loved children. Playing fun games and laughing at nothing. Even when I was in high school I'd still bring out the sheets, build a fort and play house with my younger cousins. So, now that my family has begun the next generation it's been awesome getting to know them. My cousin's daughter Jaydyn really likes playing with whoever she can find to boss around (me). When I'm at grandma's house, you can usually find me having a very exclusive tea party, playing hide-and-go-seek, or holding my brother's son Bronson.
On Christmas, Jay and I were sipping tea and eating heavily frosted cupcakes when she said this:
J: "Hey, I've never seen your phone...."
B: "Okay"
J: "Where is it? Can I see it?"
B: "Sure, it's in my coat on Grandma's bed."
Runs to the site and waits for me to get it out.
J: "Ooh! I like your buttons! Can I push 'em?
Glen and I both have dumb phones -- not smart phones. We love them and we love our bill even more ha. This experience with Jay made me feel a little judged and enormously flattered. I don't think she was meaning to pass on either of those, but I'm super glad she did (well, just the flattered part;)).
I realized as she pushed my buttons that she hadn't ever seen my phone because when we're playing... we're really playing. I don't need a device to keep hers or my own attention.
I'm not meaning this to be any sort of failure on any other person's way of playing with theirs or someone else's children. I just want to point out that it doesn't always have to involve those types of things. There are so many other options than scrolling through Facebook to watch other people's lives be so much better than yours in one picture. You do know they're doing the exact same thing and only post when something extravagant happens, right? We feed off of each other like parasites. Oh, Chris went to a party last night... let's do something fun and take pictures too! It's all about the selfie. Post it to instagram or it never happened. I need a pick-me-up, so let me just perk my boobs up and take a selfie for instagram so people I don't actually respect will tell me I'm hot. Yeah, that feeling is going to last.
Call me old-fashioned for actually being with people when I'm with them, I guess, but isn't that how it ought to be? Scrolling through those things takes away from your happiness because life can't be fully captured in a picture or 1,200 -- there will always be something you don't see in them. So, don't assume that other people are so much more happy/exciting/adventurous/pretty/whatever than you. We all chip our nail polish and have Top Ramen sometimes. Go and chip your nail polish and eat Top Ramen because you're actually doing things you love and don't have time to worry about it.
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