When Mommy and I got married nearly 7 years ago, I quickly learned that one of my roles was to kill the spiders in our home.
Of course, I knew it’s not wise to kill every spider. After all, certain spiders like granddaddy longlegs are there to prey on the other spiders that may actually be harmful to people.
So I had to teach Mommy that you definitely want to keep a few spiders in the corners of the house; like having a cat in the barn to catch the mice.
Therefore, it is not in my nature to kill a spider simply because it’s a spider. Unless it’s poisonous and/or potentially harmful to people, the worst I’ll do to a spider is move it outside.
As my son, you are the same way. Your teacher at Rainbow Child Care Center, Ms. Aimee, sent me this note:
“Last week Jack found a very tiny spider. Instead of smashing it (like what a typical child would do) he wanted to save it from being stepped on. I helped him move the spider to a safe place by the fence where it could be free in the grass.
Jack then decided that our new spider friend needed a house! So he searched the playground for items he could use to build the house. He found rocks, mulch, and grass (so he could eat in the comfort of his home).
The next week he made sure to check the spider’s home every day, to see if it came back. We found a spider web today and came to the conclusion that he must have been playing on the play equipment!”
Your teacher also sent me some pictures of you at school from this past week, ranging from “Dr. Seuss Day” to St. Patrick’s Day.
Speaking of St. Patrick’s Day, I’ve got some pictures of my own to share, so be on the look-out for that…
You have been attending your new school, Rainbow Child Care Center, for a month now. I’m assuming it’s been pretty obvious in my recent letters how happy our family is with you attending there.
Today, I want take a moment to “feature your teacher”, Ms. Aimee.
She is truly exceptional. She is the ideal teacher I could hope for, working at the ideal school I could hope for you to attend.
Last week she taught you to use a hammer, a real hammer, to build a tiny house, which is currently being displayed in our wine cabinet.
Consider how atypical it is that a 4 year-old gets to build something out of wood, using a real hammer, at his preschool. That is so cool you get to do that.
And this week, Ms. Aimee started teaching you and your friends how to use a sewing machine. I love the super serious look on your face in this picture as you were working on your patch.
This is a quick note she sent me about it:
Here are photos of Jack using a sewing machine for the first time! He observed a couple friends do it first, then, became very eager to try. After learning some of the rules (ie: always watch your fingers) he was a sewing pro! He picked out his fabric, and slowly guided it through the sewing machine. After he was done, he loved showing his project off!
These examples demonstrate not only how much creative control that Rainbow Child Care Center gives their teachers, which I extremely appreciate, but also how creative and talented your teacher is.
To me, that’s all the “Montessori” revealing itself.
Plus, it’s pretty revolutionary and unique that Rainbow Child Care Centers have a kids gym in them, so you are able to physically play- despite the weather.
I can see that every day at your school, you are being creatively and intellectually challenged.
Ms. Aimee inspires you. Because of her, you are now fascinated with pet reptiles and amphibians, since Ms. Aimee has 4 of them in your classroom. I imagine not many 4 year-old boys get to have 4 pet reptiles and amphibians in their preschool classroom as class pets!
It’s no surprise that we bought tickets for Repticon for the weekend after next. I can’t wait to see how much you’re going to enjoy it.
Mommy and I even bought you a gecko stuffed animal as part of your upcoming Easter basket.
Oh, and your class recently won a pajama party due to good behavior. It was a big deal to you!
I obviously recommend Rainbow Child Care Center to any parent who is considering enrolling their child there.
I’m not against Facebook. I think it’s a great thing. However, a month ago I had to go 4 days without any Internet (and therefore, Facebook) as we were moving into our new house.
When I finally did check Facebook, I realized that life went out without me… and I didn’t feel like I missed anything.
Prepare for the Hallmark movie cliché, but it showed me that my family right in front of me is all that really matters.
I no longer am exposed to snarky, annoying, self-serving comments; including being tempted to post my own. My exposure to negativity has decreased by 100%; though I admit there’s probably not a true way to measure the validity of that percentage decrease.
But I feel it. I feel great. My quality of life has improved since nixing my Facebook homepage.
There is something called “FOMO” (fear of missing out) that is apparently increased by social media. Apparently, I have less subconscious anxiety in my life because I have less exposure to the news I’m apparently missing out on.
Can you gossip about yourself? If so, Facebook is the platform. I’d rather not tune in to people gossiping about themselves, about the the news, about groups of people, or whatever else can fall into that category.
I should point out too that I cancelled the ability for my phone to receive any messages based on Facebook activity too.
Another part of my pledge was to only start publishing new posts here on Family Friendly Daddy Blog on Thursdays, which helps me focus on living “real life” with my family and not being distracted by daily focusing on publishing new stuff.
That decision has proven successful for me. I am happier now that I am only posting new material one night per week, all at once. Therefore, that’s really the only time I’m needing to log in to Facebook anywhere.
I don’t feel socially disconnected since locking myself out of my Facebook homepage.
It’s not right for everybody, but it’s definitely right for me. In the past month I have learned that my personal happiness can truly be measured by my lack of exposure to my Facebook homepage and having to feel pressured to daily post new stuff on my blog.
Over Christmas vacation last week (Saturday, December 27th, to be exact) my brother-in-law and I went geocaching, for the first time ever. If you’re wondering why we were driving around in a very impressive 2014 Lexus LX, it’s because I review cars here on Family Friendly Daddy Blog, as you see on the tab on the upper left hand side of the screen.
I had never even heard of geocaching before, so my brother-in-law sent me this video to help me understand it:
Basically, it’s using an app on a phone to discover “hidden treasures” by other geocachers. These hidden treasures typically just consist of trinkets or paper log-ins; just to prove you were there. Once you discover the “cache,” you are able to see who else has been there and how long ago. It’s sort of like an ongoing scavenger hunt.
For example, for the 2 caches we actually discovered, we left dog tags with our names and the date written on it in permanent marker.
It’s just a fun, innocent, legal, grass roots, ongoing pick-up game for people like me and my brother-in-law. We just like to get out and explore new territory.
Just to be clear, one of the requirements for a registered geocache spot is that the area has to be approved by whoever owns the land or in a public area.
All across America, there are these registered spots. Even in my small hometown of Fort Payne, Alabama, they are all over the place; and I don’t mean miles apart either. They are pretty close to one another.
One of the spots we decided to try out was at the bottom of Beason’s Gap, created a while back by a man named David Bait.
While dozens of other geocachers had already discovered it, we were unable to actually find the official cache there.
However, I thought I did, at first. As I ventured down the bluff just a little bit, I yelled out to my brother-in-law, “Hey! I think I found it! Come check this out!”
It was a clear, plastic sealed bag. But all that was in it was make-up, including Burt’s Bees chap stick.
However, there was no clue on the app to acknowledging this was the intended find; especially with the make-up bag being left out in the leaves.
Next to the make-up bag was a pair of newer sunglasses, in the case.
And next to it, was the big one: A purse with all official IDs and money removed; the exception being a folded up one dollar bill and an enrollment form for the Spring 2015 semester at Northeast Alabama Community College for a student named Sydney Noelle Pittman.
There was a heart drawn on the next line down, next to the name Cash; so I assume she might be romantically linked to someone with that last name.
I also found inside the purse a key for a Nissan vehicle with the name Gentry written on the tag; as if the vehicle had recently been in the shop.
However, I don’t understand why Gentry would be the name on tag if the girl’s name is Sydney Noelle Pittman.
As you can see in some of these pictures, there were long black hairs attached to some of the findings; which I assume is Sydney’s.
My theory is that at some point in not-so-distant history, Sydney Noelle Pittman had her purse snatched (maybe it was lifted after she sat it down on a counter or table at a restaurant) and the thief removed her credit card, cash, and IDs, then stopped at the pull-off at the end of Beason’s Gap to throw the purse off the bluff.
What that thief didn’t realize is that he or she was disposing of the evidence literally right on top of a geocache hiding spot; not the low-traffic random spot it would appear to non-geocachers.
Then, very innocently, a few days later my brother-in-law and I happened upon it; thinking it was the official cache. Only in hindsight did I really consider that unlike the other abandoned items I saw there on the bluff, Sydney’s belongings were apparently recent and possibly part of a crime scene.
That’s why I waited a few days to report it to the police. I am definitely new to this whole discovering an apparent crime scene thing.
I’m featuring this incident here on my blog because I want to help this girl at least get some closure with what happened.
Most of all, I hope she is alive and well. I already Googled her name, and found nothing, which I suppose is a good sign. After all, I’ve seen enough crime shows to know to look for a body, blood, or at least signs of a struggle; none of which were obviously present.
So in closing, 2 random guys (my brother-in-law and me) happened to be geocaching on Christmas vacation and became the 1st to discover a mysterious purse, which happened to be right where the coordinates pointed us.
I can’t know for sure it was stolen. For all I know she threw it off herself, after removing her money and ID, but that makes no sense to me.
Either way, I reported the mysterious purse to the local police, and within 15 minutes of my call, they had located it and picked it up, thanks to my very specific directions.
I also let the local police know not to be too surprised if they get more call-ins on this spot; since it is a registered geocache spot. I wouldn’t be surprised if more unknowing criminals think they are being clever by tossing their evidence off the bluff; which to guys like me, is instead a geocache site.
Granted, we had a lot of fun aside from potentially help solving a crime, as these other pictures demonstrate.
But the mysterious purse part of the story definitely gives this whole thing an edge. The next time we go geocaching, I’ll be ready for more adventure than what shows up on the phone app.
“People use Facebook status updates and pictures to find validation in their ideas and life choices.”
The more I’ve thought about it, the more it makes sense.
When I consider the selfie alone, it only makes sense that the “selfie taker” is looking for some kind of validation from their corner of society that their appearance is… relevant.
I say “relevant” because that could mean a lot of things depending on what the person is needing slight reassurance of:
Am I pretty enough? Do I look cool? Can people tell I’ve gotten in shape? Am I still funny? Am I even interesting?
With that being said, it goes beyond just the pictures we post. It transcends to our status updates and shared as well:
Am I doing a good job of being informative in society? Am I an influencer? Is the world aware I am part of it?
I would never want to be seen as the kind of person who is known for “needing attention” all the time, yet there’s this subtle paradox that says if you don’t post enough on Facebook, you’re sort of a Facebook snob who only looks at other people’s info and pictures without contributing or getting involved aside from “liking” other people’s post or very generically wishing them happy birthday after being prompted to by Facebook itself.
My theory is that those people who apparently don’t need confirmation or validation are at least looking for inspiration or, for a few minutes, to live vicariously as someone else.
Of course, I believe if you’re too inspirational, you may appear as a show-off. You don’t want your Facebook friends thinking you trying you’re, in essence, “trying too hard to win” at this unofficial game of Facebook.
Despite the daily overdose of negativity on Facebook, there is a fraction of my news feed that is actually positive; or at least neutrally interesting or fun. Like the pictures of my friends’ families: those are the posts I scroll my feed for.
More importantly, I try to be the person who is contributing those pictures, links, and status updates; just like Gandhi famously said:
“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
I really don’t think there’s truly a way to “win at Facebook,” sort of like the game Animal Crossings that I loved so much in college on Nintendo GameCube. Ultimately, to someone out there on Facebook, you’re going to contribute too much or too little; seem too showy or too aloof.
You can’t necessarily win or lose at the game of Facebook, but it’s a video game that millions of people play all day long, all over the world.
In theory, it’s the most popular and relevant video game of all time; that’s an idea proposed in the Netflix documentary, Video Games: The Movie.
But for this modern tower of Babel we have built and participate in, I say this is ultimately why we show up to it:
To give and/or receive legitimate validation, confirmation, and/or inspiration.
The reason I say legitimate is because not all ideas on Facebook should merit reinforcement. Plus, as I recognized earlier, Facebook has its fair share of negative people who would rather attempt to hurt instead of edify others.
Overall though, Facebook is a place (and/or social video game) where essentially anyone can give or receive confirmation on one’s beauty, worth, and relevance.
I can even post an “extreme close-up selfie” and I will get what I want out of it: for people to recognize the humor in it.
And no, I’m not writing this to get more “likes” on my Facebook page, or to try to prove I am a decent writer, or to simply feel validated by my Facebook friends so that I can essentially score more points in this video game we’re all playing.
