A constant fear in my youth was the dreaded “Your mother is looking for you!” from a parent when I would disappear with my friends all day on our bicycles. My mother sent me this picture recently, and after laughing at my sweet feathered bowl cut (I’m on the left) I was thinking about my 17 year old daughter, and honestly at no point in her childhood was I not fully aware of where she was for a period of 8 hours. We know where we all are at all times.
I remember caller ID coming out, and for 6 months my grandfather was shocked when we would answer knowing it was him. I remember stopping by someone’s house to see if they were home, and that just being part of life. You just never really knew. This had me thinking that there really isn’t much in our lives that is unknown anymore. We’re so connected, we share, are tracked, and nobody ever just stops by. I can’t remember the last time someone said “i was just driving by and thought I’d stop and say hello.” I feel we’re at a point now where we probably get annoyed if someone randomly rings our doorbells, and the element of the unknown and surprise has mostly vanished from our day to day lives.
I think it is so easy to see the benefits of knowing, but This picture had me thinking that I miss that unknown. I guess I wish someone would just stop by every once and a while, without a preemptive text, or the knowing if I was there. Not just for the excitement it would bring to me, but the risk to those stopping by not knowing if I’m there or not. If you know me and know where I live, I challenge you to just stop by and say hello. Feel like we all could use a little more excitement of the unknown in our lives, and who knows, maybe we’ll be better for it.
