This is an “old” pic (8 days ago) that I just needed to post (plus I didn’t have any good pics from today). We were in the Yooperland on M123 between M28 (Eckerman) and Trout Lake heading back down south after a weekend at Tahquamenon.

So followups? Yes, that is an “I’m with her” thingy on my fridge the other day. I *was* with her, meaning Hillary. Was she the best choice for democratic candidate? Maybe not. Did I vote for her because she was a woman? No I did not! I am *not* wallowing in the loss of my preferred candidate although I continue to be horrified by our elected president (again, if you voted for him, I love you anyway, I just don’t understand). Instead, I have broadened the meaning of “her” to include entities like Lady Liberty and Mother Nature and The Commander and Radical Betty and every other badass woman I have ever known, in person or from afar, real or symbolic.

A cautionary tale? First, a disclaimer. I *love* to communicate with people via text or facebook direct message. That means people that I know, like friends and family members asking if I’m on for Thursday coffee or giving me news about what’s going on in the Great White North or wherever. Occasionally, when I make a new facebook friend, we may have a short convo about how/what we’re doing now. That’s okay too.

I had a weird experience last fall when a facebook friend I knew billions of years ago direct messaged me via facebook with a message that disturbed me a bit. I won’t say who it was or what the message said (you wouldn’t know the person anyway). Just that I was sitting in the Grizzly Peak on a beautiful Saturday afternoon having lunch and beer/whine with my husband of more years than I am strong enough to count and then… I got a facebook message from this person. It was benign so I replied to it with something benign. And then I got another one. It wasn’t quite NSFW but it wasn’t appropriate. I. Did. Not. Reply. To. It.

I have not unfriended or even “blocked” this person in any way. I don’t do that kind of thing. It reminds me of junior high behavior. I just don’t engage with the person any more. In the last couple weeks, I have received two *more* direct messages from this person. Both of them are links to the same cute aminal video. I do not watch cute aminal videos. I did not watch this one. I did not respond to those messages. I can’t figure out if the person even knows that they have sent me the video. Did the person unknowingly send the cute aminal video to every single facebook contact or was it just to me? And why did I receive it twice? I do not know.

The thing is that I suddenly realized that I have absolutely no obligation to answer a random facebook message from someone I haven’t seen in 40 years and don’t know very well. Friends and family? Message me any time you want!

P.S. For reasons that won’t disclose, I am NOT afraid of this person. The person poses no threat to me in any way shape or form. It is someone who seems lonely (and maybe ill) and does not know how to appropriately reach out to people. Better to reach out to family or friends than a person from 40 years ago that you never had a relationship with in the first place me.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 21st, 2017 at 6:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.