FACEBOOK FRIENDS

Steven and I were on a weekend getaway to Cape May. We stopped at Cape May Point Park and while we wandered through the different paths, Steven snapped pictures. An hour or so later we were back in the car. “Can I see the photo's you took?”

“Sure.” He began swiping through his photos.

“Oh...” I cried when I saw one I loved. “Can you send me that one! I want to post it!”

Moments later it was on my Facebook feed. “Great! Thanks.” I turned off my phone and we headed to our next destination.

After a full day of sightseeing Steven and I were finally sitting at dinner and I began to scroll through my Facebook feed. “You know it's always kind of nice to see how many people 'like' a picture you post.”

Steven moved his bread plate so the server could put down his salad.

“Oh look,” I cried. “Karen liked my picture! I've owed her a phone call for so long”

“So why haven't you called her?”

“Because we have so much catching up to do that both of us would have to have at least an hour of free time.” I complained.

“Just call and set up a time.”

“I know I really should.” I pushed my salad to the side and continued to scroll. “Whenever she posts a picture of somewhere she's gone I always hit the 'like' button.” I looked at Steven and shrugged my shoulders. “So, in a way, I feel like I'm keeping up with her.”

“Really?”

“No, not really.” I said sadly, then clicked off my phone and began to eat my salad. “Maybe I should just post to her time-line and see when it's a good time for her to talk?” I picked up my phone again and began typing. “Maybe she has some free time this weekend.”

“That's a good idea.” By now our main course had arrived.

“That's the problem with Facebook.” I continued. I thanked the server then looked back at Steven. “You think you're keeping in touch with friends by liking their posts. You see who has a birthday, a graduation, who's working on their house but you don't have a chance to ask any questions. All you do is hit 'like' and move on. No one really talks to each other any more.”

We finished dinner and while we waited for the bill I went back to Facebook to check my feed.

“Oh my gosh I love it!” I cried.

“What?”

“You know how I just wrote on Karen's time-line that I owed her a phone call? That I'd love to catch up?”

Steven looked confused. “Yeah?”

“She just 'liked' my post!”  

RADIO'S BROKEN

My son Alex and I were headed out to pick up breakfast. I grabbed my keys from the kitchen counter. “I'll drive if you run in and pick up the bagels.” I said as I headed for the front door.

Alex slipped on his shoes and grabbed a baseball cap, “Sounds good to me.” he followed me to the car.

We weren't even half way down our street before Alex had the radio on and was quickly switching from station to station.

“Oh, I like that song.” I said.

But he'd already moved on to the next station. “There has to be something better than that.” he reasoned as he hit button after button.

“Wait,” I complained “You're switching too fast. I can't figure out what song it is before you switch again.”

“Don't worry. I'll find the right station.” The switching continued for a few more minutes before he finally turned the radio off and leaned back against the seat. “The radio's broken.” he sighed.

I looked over at him. “Broken?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I can't find anything worth listening to. So as far as I'm concerned it's broken.”

I could only shake my head. “You know when I was growing up the person who decided what was listened to in the car was the person driving.” I reached over and turned the radio back on. The first station I clicked on was a classical station. “See I fixed the broken radio.”

“Humm...” Alex leaned over and turned the air conditioning off and opened his window.

I reached over and turned the air back on. “The temperature of the car was also decided by the person driving.” I explained as I pushed the button on my door that closed his window.

“But it's beautiful out.” he said. “Wouldn't you rather have the windows open?”

I had to admit he was right. I'd been using the air conditioning for so long it had become a habit. “I guess we could try the windows.”

He turned the air off while I lowered the windows.

We'd only driven for a few minutes before I pulled up next to another car at a stop light. Alex quickly reached over and turned off the radio. “Hey!” I cried. “I was listening to that.”

“In a minute.” He began putting his window up. “Can you close your window, I'll turn the air back on.”

“What?” I looked over at him. “You just said you wanted the windows down because it's a beautiful day?”

“I know.” He nodded his head to the car next to us at the stop light. It was filled with a group of guys about his age.

It took me a minute to figure out the problem but when I finally did I happily put my window up. “Sorry about that.” I started to laugh. “I guess sitting in a car listening to classical music with your Mom is a little tough on the image huh?”

“The classical station is a little embarrassing.” he admitted. “But hanging out with you isn't bad at all.”

“Ahhh.” I almost felt a little teary. “Thanks, I like hanging out with you too!” I reached over and turned off the radio. “Looks like it's broken again.” I laughed as I opened the windows.

Alex smiled. “I told you, that thing breaks all the time.”

IS THIS A DREAM

I was hurrying out of the bedroom to get my morning cup of tea. “I overslept!” I cried as I passed Steven in the kitchen and grabbed the kettle from the stove.

“Oh, I thought you were just sleeping in.” he said as he moved out of the way so I could get to the sink to fill the kettle. “Did you forget to set your alarm?”

“No it was set.” I put the kettle on and hoped watching it would make it come to a boil faster.

“So what happened?” he handed me my favorite mug.

“Well, I was in the middle of this dream...” I put a tea bag into the mug.

“Oh, and you didn't want it to end?” he nodded, “I've done that.”

“No, that's not what happened.” I went back to watching the kettle. “I was in a car with a few friends.”

“Who?”

I looked back at him and shook my head. “I don't know who they were.”

“So how do you know they were friends?”

“I don't know.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I just knew they were.”

“Okay so...” he leaned back against the counter.

“So every time one of my friends tried to tell us a story this annoying guy sitting in the back would have his phone alarm go off.”

“Who was the guy?”

“I don't know.”

“What was he doing in the car with you?”

“I don't know, he was there to be annoying I guess.”

“Just because his phone alarm went off?”

“Well, it wasn't just one time, it was over and over again.” I explained annoyed that the water hadn't come to a boil yet. “Every time my friend would start her story the alarm would go off again.”

Steven's phone started to ring. He took it out of his pocket, looked at the number. “I'm sorry, I have to get this.”

While he had a quick conversation I stared at my kettle and looked at the clock wondering just how late I was going to be today.

When he was done with his conversation he looked back at me. “Sorry about that. So you were saying you didn't know who the guy in the back seat was?”

“No, but that doesn't really matter.” The water had finally boiled and I poured it in the mug. “The reason his phone kept going off...”

Steven's phone rang again and he, once again, looked at the number. “I'm sorry, this is work, I'm going to have to take this one too.”

I watched my tea steep as he finished up his conversation, hung up and looked back at me. “Sorry about that, so what were you saying?”

“I was telling you about my dream.” I reminded him.

“Right, right.” he leaned back against the counter. “So some guy you didn't know was sitting in the back seat and his phone kept going off.”

“Right, so...”

Steven's phone rang again. “Sorry about this. We just started a new job and everyone has questions.”

I threw my tea bag in the trash and headed for our bedroom to get ready for work.

Steven came in a moment later. “Sorry about that. So you were saying?”

I was pulling clothes out of the closet and laying them on the bed. “Well, I was getting annoyed every time this guys phone rang, but then I realized what I was hearing was my own alarm ringing! It had been going off for about fifteen minutes!”

“I've had that happen to me before. It's just funny that you made it a guy in a carload of your girlfriends.” his phone rang again. He looked at the number. “Sorry I have to get this.”

I had to smile as he walked away.

WEIGHING IN

I was running late for work so I grabbed my cup of tea and ran to go take a shower. Once I turned on the water I did what I always do while I'm waiting for the shower to get to the right temperature. I closed my eyes and stepped on the scale.

Taking a deep breath I looked down to see what today's damage was, but there wasn't a reading. “Hmm...that's weird.” I stepped off, then stepped back on once again. Still nothing.

So I took my shower. While I was wiping the steam off the bathroom mirror, so I could put on my make-up, Steven came to the bathroom door. “You going to be much longer?” he called through the closed door.

“Be out in a minute.” I called, which is what I always say no matter how much time I still needed. “Hey, Steven. Did you know the bathroom scale is broken?”

“It's not broken.” He called back. “I pulled the battery out of it.”

“What?” I stopped blending my cover-up and opened the door. “Why would you do that?”

“Because when I used it this morning it kept coming up Error.” Steven passed by me and put his towel on the shower door.

“But when I used it yesterday it was fine.” I went back to blending my cover-up under my eyes.

“Okay, but now it's broken.” Steven went back into our bedroom to wait for me to be done. “I'll try to pick up a battery today.”

“Okay, I guess I can skip today.” I reasoned. “But I really need it back for tomorrow. If you don't have time to get the battery let me know and I'll pick it up.” I popped my head around the door jam and saw him sitting on the bed. “It's really important.” I added before I went back to the bathroom mirror to finish.

“Important?” Steven sounded confused.

“I have to weigh myself every morning to see what kind of day I'm going to have.” I called out.

“What kind of day?” Steven was now leaned against the bathroom door jam, looking at me in the mirror.

“Exactly.” I got out my blush and brush. “I weigh myself every morning, at the same time, before I get into the shower.” I pointed to my full tea mug on the sink. “It has to be before I eat or drink anything. If I'm happy with the number maybe I'll let myself have that cookie or second piece of bread that day.” I clicked the blush container closed and put in back in the cabinet. “You know... happy number, happy day.”

Steven just shook his head. “And if it's not a good number?”

“Terrible day.” I grabbed my hair brush. “When I eat that cookie on second piece of bread on a bad day I'm miserable the whole time I'm eating it.”

Steven started to laugh. “So the number on the scale doesn't stop you from eating something?'

“Sometimes, but usually not.” I turned around and smiled, ready to start my day. “So you can see how today’s going to be hard for me. I'm not sure if it's a happy day or a fat day.”

Steven watched as I collected the rest of my things before I headed for the front door. “Well, I think you look great.” he said.

I spun around to face him, a huge smile on my face. “Thanks! That's going to help make it a great day for me!” I grabbed my purse and gave him a quick kiss good-by. “But that's only going to work for today. I really need that battery for tomorrow.”