I was riding in the Red Mini with Tom and a thought occurred to me…

“Why do we blog, twitter, FB, text?”

My 1st thought was, “I don’t know?” Well, I have thought about for sometime…

My belief is: connecting.

I know that we want to connect.  I can only speak personally, but many years ago, when we moved to Nashville, we were alone. Family was far away, mine was Alaska, very far away!  Tom got a gig fairly fast, so he was gone quite a bit.  It was difficult making friends.  I was “single” a lot, when Tom was out of town, and really didn’t have many married friends. When he came home, my single friends couldn’t relate that I had a husband!!  Had no church that I was plugged into. (Really at that point in our lives, we really couldn’t go to church…Scars from bad church experiences, a whole other blog post.)  Anyway, as we finally made friends, young marrieds like ourselves, I got pregnant.
Well, once I had Anya, my single and married no children friends, acted like we were aliens! Just couldn’t relate anymore…and toting a baby around, quite an annoyance. (no money for babysitters, so we took her everywhere.)
We eventually found a church, joined a small group, made amazing friends.  It seemed to me that as I made them and bonded, they would move.  Reasons were different, military, music industry too rough, transfer, etc.  It was always painful.
I have never lacked for friends, I am truly blessed, but they all live all over the United States.
I slowly met other musicians wives that also had small children, and joined the ranks of so many in Nashville…I was finally connecting!
Of course, the nature of life, I have still had great friends move far away, so my circle shrinks, then I connected with Crosspoint Community Church. What I have noticed, is there is still a part of me that is disconnected.  I am older with very young children, so my friends that are my age with teens, now can come and go as they please.  As for me, I still have to get a babysitter, or miss out. ( Tom’s schedule constantly changes and I can’t normally get him to be able to commit to anything.)  So at times they don’t relate to me, with my Rowan stories, and talk of poop and all the latest shows on Nick jr and Noggin, and PBS.  I really don’t blame them!

As for women with young children…well most of them are…Young!!  I believe they have a more difficult time relating to me, an older mom.  Which takes me back to blogging, twitter, fb, and texting, etc.
Connecting…I blog because I have something to say, or at least I want to say, and many times have no one, or at least an adult, to say it to!! (Maybe the checker at the grocery store)
Seriously, in our society, where so many work, and those at home with small children, stay home with their small children, we still need to connect.
It is the new techno way of coffee clutches and tea parties and such.  We are now able to find amazing people all over the country and read their thoughts, dreams, and blogs,  and have them read yours.  Personally, I love it and I hate it.  I love it because it makes me feel connected, and I hate it because no longer are we in a neighborhood with friends sharing a cup of sugar, or having a conversation about nothing.
We are isolating…connecting electronically, sending out short messages, not seeing facial expressions, or giving someone a shoulder to cry on. Giving electronic hugs and prayers…

And what about our teens, tweens?

I have both, and more.

What are they doing?

Texting ALL the time!

Checking their phones all the time, habitually, because they are jonesing for their next text.  They would rather text short messages then call on the cell phone and have an actual conversation.  We tweet things we do and say all through the day and night. “Is anyone reading?  Will they tweet back?  Do they care?”  We spend hours on fb, playing games, sending info, and funny comments, and having little conversations over the Internet, watching threads grow and grow…I sound like I hate it more than I love it, and really that’s not true. (except for the games…)
I JUST WANT BALANCE WITH IT.
One of my favorite things to do is go out to lunch, or coffee, or dinner, or have a tea with my girlfriends!
Young and old!
I love making new friends, learning about them, and from them.
I want to have balance for my children!  I don’t want them to become Internet, texting zombies, social outcasts that don’t have any social skills because they never interact person to person…
My friend Heather, from New York, was here this week. I was able to spend the day with her and talk and catch up and laugh and share, one on one!  It was amazing!   I am so thankful that I have the Internet options to keep in touch with her now that she is back home.

It is all about connection.

Plus, I have an amazing circle of women that I am proud to call friends!  My circle is growing.