Hey Internet Pals,
Unfortunately social media doesn’t yet offer an “out of office” message, which feels like a big oversight on their part. But hey, they worked hard on the new hug emoji so we have that going for us.
I didn’t initially feel the need to make some grandiose announcement before heading out, but I also don’t want to just peace without so much as a goodbye, so here we are and here’s my grandiose announcement.
I spent the first month or so of this pandemic soaking up every tiny piece of internet social interaction I could gather in my virtual arms and held them tight like little nuggets of connection to the world. It just seemed like the right thing to do during a time when my human interaction had been reduced to a population of 3.
But things have changed since then and the collective “alone together” message has begun to gather dust as the population has grown restless and adopted a message of “I’m right, you’re wrong. This guy has an offensive sign so everyone on that side must be crazy. Fuck medical advice and your grandma, I need to get my Chili’s on.” and I’ve watched it all live through the eyes of social media – each day becoming a little worse and another shard of my faith in humanity chipped away.
Sure, there are some good things happening too, but they’re a tiny vibrate in a stadium full of unsilenced phones and have become increasingly hard to find such that the negative aspects of wading through all the bad far outweigh the good once they’re finally found.
All that is to say, I’ve decided to unsubscribe from everything indefinitely in an effort to silence the noise, retain the shred of faith in humanity I have left and focus my effort where it can actually have an impact with my family and myself. I’ve got mountains of books to read and Quinn and I have yet undiscovered Play-Doh creatures to create, baking recipes to use as an excuse for bowl licking and a backyard full of dirt and bugs that’s itching to be explored.
I do however promise to post photos of Quinn from time to time because I don’t think it’s fair to take away the experience of watching her grow from our far away friends and family, but I apologize if I don’t always respond to comments – it’s simply because nobody is home.
As always, feel free to text, email, zoom, fax or send messenger owls my way. I love (and like) each and every one of you and can’t wait to spend real in-person time with everyone again. I’ll be back here someday when things have quieted and I’ve had time to build a thicker shell out of all the good stuff around me.
Please don’t burn down the internet while I’m gone.
candy for breakfast 