If I Ever Do This On Facebook, Call the Authorities!

Hello again, Coffee Talkers!

I want to let you know a couple things -- first, rest assured that just because last night's post and this night's post have to do with Facebook does not mean that all future posts will!

Next, if any of you ever see me do any of these things on Facebook, or anywhere else on the internet, or anywhere else on God's green (or any other land-type or water covered) earth, know that I have a.) been hacked, b.) been kidnapped, or c.) have gone a little crazier than usual and need my internet right taken away immediately. So call the internet authorities if you see any of these things posted under my name:

1. Me doing a kissy-face pose...
2. while wearing a very low cut shirt and/or bikini top...
3. and for some strange reason, feeling the need to squeeze my arms together near my chest region...
4. and of course, this picture has been taken myself, with my phone, in the bathroom mirror.
5. Me posting a picture which I have no rights to, but which has obvious emotional appeal...
6. asking you to 'like' said photo if you agree with whatever sentimental statement I made along with the photo (but which I actually do nothing to support in real life)...
7. and then telling you to 'subscribe' to me, so I can get you nine million new friend requests!
8. Me, explaining in a very lengthy status update or note how overloaded my life is with commitments and how I can simply NOT do another thing...
9. followed by me bombing your newsfeed with all of my progress reports from Farmtown, Castleland, and MyNewAquariumHasMoreLivingFishThanYoursVille.
10. Me posting anything about any of the Kardashians. For any reason. EVER.

(Now you know that, just because I threw that last one in there, some big news item relating to some Kardashian and the Catholic Church will transpire, and then what am I gonna do??)

You now, I just thought of one exception to the 'kissy-face' photo rule. If you ever see a picture like this posted...

...it might really be from me. What can I say? I'm a sucker for baby chub!

As always, thanks for stopping by, and be assured of my prayers!

Peace and all good,
Leslie

Don't Judge a Family by their Facebook

Coffee Talkers!

Great to be back with you again! I have been intending to start writing more regularly again, starting this week, and then I got sick. But I've got some rockin' antibiotics now (I think the physician's assistant was afraid I would hug him after he said that he'd prescribe some) and so I'm happily taking advantage of this peaceful moment between feverish sweat and freaky chills to get back to Coffee Talk.

A while back, I saw a picture of a family on Facebook. I am not even Facebook 'friends' with whoever posted the picture, but I do know some members of the family. The picture was breathtaking. I mean, these are some really photogenic people! And to top off the loveliness of it all, the family looked happy and intact -- mom, dad, kids, all with very genuine smiles. And I felt happy for them, but at the same time, I realize now that I felt a tinge of jealousy -- why couldn't my family and life be so happy and perfect? (And while we're at it, why couldn't I look like a model?)

Weeks went by without another thought of the photo until one day I was introduced to the dad -- I had never met him before, and I just assumed that he looked a bit familiar to me from that Facebook photo. He shook my hand, and said hello, and it hit me. I realized where I had seen him before. And I realized that he is part of a 12-step program that meets in a building where I also have a commitment each week, and sometimes he would pass by and say hello or offer me some coffee.

And in that moment, I realized something wonderful -- that family is not perfect, that family is heroic. And heroic, we are all called to be. Because they got through some terrible times (I'll never know how terrible) and they got through them together. And now they are experiencing wonderful times (certainly still mixed with a fair amount of trial and suffering) and they are experiencing them together. Also, I happen to know that these people are people of prayer, and I am reminded of Mother Teresa's oft quoted, "The family who prays together stays together."

You know, I was gonna write a little more, but prudence calls to me, beckoning me to take a little Tylenol and head to bed, lest the crazy fever-induced dreams come again. Does that ever happen to anyone else? The best one I ever had was when, as a child, I dreamed that I was reading a book about a family who looked like the Jetsons and had a very large pet fish who got stuck in an air conditioning filter. And after I woke up, I searched around my house for quite some time looking for that book until finally someone convinced me that it did not actually exist. I'm still a little disappointed at not having found it.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and be assured of my prayers!

Peace and all good,
Leslie