One Social Media Missing Another

Well, this morning about 7:30 I received a text message from my mother that said, "On the way home. All is well."

Umm...what do you mean "heading home and all is well"? Being a tad bit alarmed by this message, I immediately called mom's cell and asked her just that. It turns out that my dad had posted on his blog this morning that he was not posting today because he was going in for a routine medical procedure. The text was just my mom's way of letting me know that, well - all was well.

The problem with this is that I had not read my dad's blog yet at that point in the day, as it is of course three hours earlier here in California than it is in Texas. So basically we had two forms of social media passing each other in the night, as it were, leading to a somewhat concerning communication breakdown.

Of course, we got it all cleared up, but it is interesting how using these different forms of social media lead us to fragment information in a way. Many times, the things I blog, text or Facebook about are only relevant when paired with other fragments of information texted, blogged, or Facebooked somewhere else. If we were still just using the phone (talking on the phone, that is), the whole context of my dad's appointment would have been covered in that one interaction. If we were still just writing letters, not only would one letter have the whole story, it all would have happened with days ago.

Interesting. But okay, because in the end, and no matter how it is communicated, they are home and all is well.

Rob  – (5 February 2010 at 14:30)  

At least she texted you to let you know everything was OK. At his point - which is still 3 hours later here - I have heard nothing. AND, I spent 15 minutes talking on the phone with her last night. Hmmm......

Barbara  – (5 February 2010 at 15:06)  

Dad was the texter and he said to tell Rob that he got the same text you did at the same time she did.

Barbara  – (5 February 2010 at 15:07)  

PS There's only 2 hours difference between Texas and California. 3 hours between W. Va and Ca.

And looks like Morgantown is getting slammed with snow right now.

Bob  – (5 February 2010 at 15:25)  

Or possibly Julie's friend Emily in West Virginia got the text.

Julie  – (5 February 2010 at 17:50)  

Okay, first of all, there is a big different between not knowing at all about your dad's routine medical procedure and getting a cryptic text that hinted that something was wrong. No offense Mom and Dad, but since you're in the later years, I know those things come up from time to time. It probably wouldn't have hurt my feelings at all to not hear about it (no offense again).

Second, perhaps Dad was a little loopy after his procedure. There's no telling who he sent that text too - let's just hope he wasn't too...descriptive.

Third: oh, yeah. Twos hours from here to Texas. I always forget that.

Fourth: Why am I SO jealous that they're getting pounded with snow in Morgantown? But I am. I just am.

Fifth: To all the readers of my blog who are _not_ in my family. Isn't social media a good thing? Not only can my family communicate so readily with each other, you guys get to all read along! thing.

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