Did anyone else visit long-lost family over the holiday break and have their child greeted like a celebrity? And by “like a celebrity,” I mean that not only was everyone falling all over themselves to get a piece of the little angel but that friends who’ve never met the kid treated him like they knew him already.
Is your kid caught on camera with no makeup on or pants down? Do you write about her like she’s a little diva with tales of her conflicts with studio heads and drugs parents and juice boxes?
In addition to this site, my husband and I (barely) keep up a little family site with pictures and (only-the-charming) anecdotes because our families are all Back East. We do it for ourselves as much as we do it for Them, but it’s the Them that I’m talking about.
Some examples:
- Our friend Sunny hosted a book swap (just like it sounds) and her four-year-old, Lucas, was playing and hanging around the fringes of the party eating crackers and making funny faces. I have met him a handful of times, but my familiarity with his misadventures and quirks goes well beyond what he might know about me. That’s what got me thinking about the one-sidedness of our relationship. And how the children we blog about are becoming minor celebrities in their own right.
- My sister, K, has never met Holden but she thinks she has. She’s not sure anymore because she’s seen him so very much in pictures. It’s like thinking you know Jennifer Aniston because you’ve seen a lot of episodes of Friends. Believe me, she does not feel that same confusion about you.
- In college (in those pre-blog, post-email days), I sent long and winding emails about my relationship woes to my friend studying abroad. My heartache was pouring into the computer like a Doogie Houser style journal and I didn’t consider my audience at all. She came back from that semester feeling very close to me whereas I felt no closer to her.
- Last week, I “met” a man at my holiday party and was not sure if we had ever met in person or if I just knew way too much about him from his blog. So, I’m guilty too.
When I was little, I was occasionally subjected to visits from my Mom’s friends who would chirp, “you’ve grown so much?” or “do you remember me?” and was appropriately annoyed.
Now, there’s a whole new level of “have we ever met?” or “you are so cute in your new footie pajamas” that we didn’t experience when we were little.
My friends who live too far away to visit keep me posted on their children’s cuteness via digital pictures, emails, and websites. I treasure that interaction and am not ready to give it up. So, it’s just a thing to wonder about.
Am I alone on this or does anyone else have any thoughts on this? Stories to share?
