My parents both joined Facebook recently. It was kind of a strange experience being “friended” by them. I thought, hey, my parents could be my friends, that could work.

But in attempting to work the system, my mother ended up de-friending me, and I suddenly recognized a whole world of untapped trauma facing today’s millenials and pre-teens:

PSYCHOLOGIST: “What seems to be the problem, young lady?”

YOUNG GIRL: “My Mom de-friended me on Facebook.  I feel that I am worthless in this world.”

PSYCHOLOGIST: “You can’t place your sense of self worth in whether your mother is part of your Facebook network. You must self-actualize.”

YOUNG GIRL: “But she not only did she friend my brother--they also exchange Superpokes on a daily basis.”

PSYCHOLOGIST: “Oh. Then you’re completely f@#*(&.”

However, my mother figured it out the system and friended me again, which I found very empowering.

Then she put up a photo:

Whoa!

My father, impressed with her choice of photo, offered this background to me and my brother:

“Your mom was cleaning the refrigerator. It was just before we were married or just after. She was 22 or 23. She was hot, tired and annoyed I was taking pictures. She was wearing old cut-off jeans, so far as I recall, that don’t show in this picture. I thought she was the prettiest and sexiest thing I had ever seen at that moment, so I got the camera, a plastic box brownie as I recall that used 120 film, and took several pictures.  It is still my favorite picture of her.”

I’m glad that it’s my father’s favorite picture of her.  I, however, am a bit more ambivalent.  Because, frankly, I’m forced to admit she’s a stone fox (by way of Elvis Costello’s eyewear), and admitting that aligns me a lot more to backwater Kentucky families than I’d care to admit.