Off Line.......

We've had a fairly busy weekend.  We celebrated Valentine's Day at home - somehow for the past couple of years that celebration has included Curlygirl and Squeaker.  Squeaker's daddy takes Curlygirl out a day early to avoid the crowds.  Their first-choice restaurant closed due to the storm, so they picked Sake Tume (think about it - like another local restaurant called Nezuntoz, it's all about figuring out the punny pronunciation) for sushi and dinner.  Curlygirl even managed to get a drink without being carded, which is pretty funny considering her size and the fact that she is still six months underage.

Yesterday we went to the Texas Road House to finally celebrate Hubby's birthday.  The food there is certainly tasty but I'm not convinced that it was worth sitting in a noisy, cold waiting area for an hour. But the wonderful thing was that Babygirl was ON.  We've seen her so much tired, aching, and sad this past two months that it was delightful, heartbreakingly glorious, to see her be her once-usual Babygirl self - chatty, humorous, engaged and conversational.  She and Hubby chatted about the pros and cons of various forms of anime, both agreeing that Naruto is the best, and disagreeing about the quality and interest of Sailor Moon.  Dr. Who is always part of any of these discussions as well, which led to a discussion of books, which moved to the new Chris Coffer novel which ultimately led to a trip to Barnes and Noble. 

We also chatted about our proposed road trip in the late spring.  We have so very many things on our list it may be very hard to achieve them all!  Do we want to see Disneyland in California, Cedar Park in Ohio, Universal Studios in Orlando?  Can we see family in Washington, California, Texas AND Florida?  And can we burn a couple dozen CDs with road trip music and include American Pie on each one?  And are we prepared to put up a tent every single night for three weeks?

So with one thing and another, I've been offline all weekend.  Aside from the obligatory hour of work this morning, and writing this post, I've been out. 

It's odd and a little frightening how quickly one can become dependent on social media.  I've never been good at keeping in touch, so it's great to see how people are doing, but it's very impersonal.  I wish I could have that 'birthday reminder' in my head and not on a computer screen! 

I think that for many of us who are older than say, fifty, social media seems like a fascinating but not-necessary toy.  It is, for people under thirty, a way of life.  To me it seems like an insidiously addicting life-sucking time waster. How can we be mindful of our own lives when we are alternating between adorable kitten videos and animal cruelty advisories? 

I think I'll stay offline for the rest of today.  Let my mind detoxify.  Live my actual life instead of a virtual one. 

DeeDee