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