Twitter My Life.

"I try my hardest to just not let it bother me"

"Ew why is that your twitter picture?"

"I just don't get you sometimes"

"I feel miserable"

"Ha and you think I care"

"the conversations I have with some people >"

"You hide your feelings but end up regretting it...you share your feelings

but somehow the world finds a way to make you regret it even more"

Savannah's Tweets

As I watch my Fifteen year old struggle with this insane world of social media, I become thankful that it wasn't part of my generation.  It was hard enough being a teenager, especially living in a dysfunctional house.  I imagine at times the ability to vent to the virtual world would have been helpful (it is now) but I'm a lot more mature and emotionally capable to deal with any ensuing bull shit.  Sadly I have seen first hand how brutal and heartless cyber bullying has truly gotten.  It isn't just teenagers anymore who throw virtual punches to helpless victims, most of the time without any repercussions.  After all it's easy to hide away in a room and attack someone who is not physically there to defend themselves.  At times a sort of "kick em' while they're down mentality.  I wish I could protect my loved ones from such things, but sadly, short of cutting them off from all forms of technology, there isn't an ability to do so.  All I can do is remind them what wonderful people they are and just because someone says it, doesn't make it true.

As I follow my daughter's tweets and those of her friends, I can visibly see the pain, hurt, happiness and frustration that they are feeling.   However, often her tweets are short, vague and many times it's hard to truly know who they are about.  Is she frustrated with friends, a teacher, family or some boy?  Often times I think she goes between sending out a message and pulling one back.  It's a true art learning how to twitterfy your life.

You might think I am attacking the institute of such social medias, I am not, just those who use it to bully.  In my life, without things such as twitter,  I would have less windows into my daughter's world.  With us being hundreds of miles apart, social media has become invaluable to me while Savannah and even Sam are away.  Between Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram I can usually paint a picture of their world.  These "pictures," tweets and messages are priceless to a mom who misses her two oldest babies like crazy.  Sam doesn't twitter, so only Savannah falls victim to my barrage of tweets.  I had a realization about my own tweets and tweeted this, "As I look back on my #tweets, I realize my #twitter account is basically a #love letter to @savannah... #youaremysunshine!"

The other day my sweet little Savannah told me that hardly any moms are accepted into her friend's twitter world.  This made me happy that she felt comfortable enough to let me into hers.  I imagine she realizes that it helps my aching mommy heart to know when I am missing her, and if she's too busy to call, I can at least catch a glimpse of her via her twittering tweets.

I love you my sweet babies to the moon and stars, the moon and stars, across the twitter world and back!

You can find and follow me at @33connelly on the twitter.