Of all the amazing things I am discovering about being a "Bitsy", my favorite may be my newfound ability to say "NO", "Uh Uh", "Not Gonna Do It", "Take a Hike, I'm busy with the Webbman" or better yet "Do It Yourself". If the legendary "red flag" just went up your inner "flag pole", please lower it to at least half mast. Try not to fret or concern yourself. Don't even begin to assume that any of THOSE words are uttered, even in passing, to the Lil Momma, Precious or the Webbman. I wont bar that from every happening, but to-date, it just hasn't been necessary.
There are all kinds of things that no matter how hard we try to say "NO" to, somehow, someway, they still creep back into our lives. Peer pressure is one of them, no matter the age. We have peer pressure as children, we have peer pressure as young adults and surprisingly, we have it as adults and yep, even as grandparents. I look back at my teen years and readily admit that more often than not, I "caved", gave in to peer pressure and did alot of things that were "in hindsight" not so good for me. They were probably fun (like our project that involved the collection of and cleaning of empty beer cans gathered from local bar-rooms for months in an effort to write something of "color" on our high school football team's 50 yard line the night prior to our local rivals game of play. 2,500 beer cans do not "go silently into the night" or for that matter, "silently over the 10' fence" that surrounded our revered home team's field. This little "event" was fun, UNTIL we were "caught" by Brother Malcolm, our Chemistry teacher, who happened to be out at the field jogging in the dark of the night and we THEN ended up the next day in Brother Lee's office for our serious reprimand which allowed us to "leave the evidence briefly but to "clean it up" prior to noon the next day. What kind of Brother of the Sacred Heart jogs at 10 p.m. at night (yep, if it's 10 p.m., it's at night, right)? I still, to this day, wonder if he wasn't part vampire? Further more, what kind of Principal for an all boys catholic school allows a group of 5 girls the luxury of leaving their beer can "sculpture" for hours of viewing by the football team?" Truly, I don't even remember being punished, but the "fear factor" of a visit to the Principal's office was pretty high as we stepped into Brother Lee Barker's office!" OK, back on track.
Trying to fit in and to be like everyone else was just something we all dealt with. Nope, no cross to bear individually there, I carried it around just like ya'll did, with all my friends, same monkey but on a different back. It's the same for kids of all ages today. I'll even admit that during most of my years spent raising the Lil Momma, I found it easy to cave there too with forms of peer pressure. I felt the pressure to have her in just the right outfit, pressure to enroll her in the right school, pressure for her to participate in, experience in and be enrolled in the best activities. I did find that as the Lil Momma made friends, the pressure became easier to bear by keeping those friends close at hand. Those "peers" were extensions of the Lil Momma. I found that it was much easier and actually enjoyable to deal with the "peer pressure" by jumping right in and interacting with and getting to know the "peers". I was blessed that we got to a point where we loved those little "peers" like they were ours (still do). The pressure became more manageable when I reached out and reigned it into my comfort zone. I am pretty certain I was NEVER a "cool" Mom, but I was a hands-on Mom and the only option was to be myself, which sometimes involved me running around in the front yard or riding in golf carts after dark with the girls of my own volition.
Well, guess what . . . . Bitsy got "off base" again. Anyhow, NOW I'm a "Bitsy", and I find myself often faced with another kind of "peer" pressure. Truth be told, it has nothing to do with being a Bitsy and has everything to do with being a "Worldwide Webb (Get it? No pun intended)" Grandmom". You all know, I live and breathe a huge segment of this life on the "world wide web" :) No surprise there, right? Yep, as someone who lives this large chunk of her life on the Internet, I'm confronted pretty much daily by those who want me to do as they do, to "follow" their lead. But, this time, I'm NOT following anyone's lead, NOT doing as they do and I'm doing what is decidedly NOT cool. I'm just saying NO.
You may politely ask "Just what the hell is she talking about? Just what the hell is she saying "NO" to?" Well, here's Bitsy's list of things the hip folks, the "in" folks do online and Bitsy is drawing her line in the sand and doesn't plan on moving it. Don't take offense and don't take it personally if you do these things; just take it as "forewarning" that I don't do these things, that I won't do these things if you ask. I have tried some or ALL of them, and they ARE NOT my "glass of iced tea :)"
BITSY'S TOP 10 LIST
OF
"I DON'T HAVE TO, DON'T WANNA AND
I'M NOT GONNA DO
THINGS"
THINGS"
Passing along forwards.
Doesn't matter to me if they are cute or funny, or perhaps elicit a "warmth in my heart" feeling, but most assuredly if they are "hate filled rants" that work on trying to convince me that I absolutely MUST send it to at least ten (10) of my friends in order to continue to prosper or to find a sense of purpose and true love. Forwards all get the same treatment from me: the delete button.
Changing my Facebook profile photo.
Don't ask me to change my profile photo from an amazingly beautiful picture of the Webbman to a color befitting a cause or holiday. This is probably for the most part just because I'm lazy.
Playing a game about where I left my purse.
Cute idea, but Bitsy does not carry a purse. She only carries the shear essentials, as in a debit card, and even that's questionable, car keys, drivers license, insurance card and a list of who to call when I croak! Even if I did, I can assure you, BITSY would not have a clue where she left said purse.
Copying a friend's facebook status.
Showing my respect for a cause by copying a friend's facebook status to show support of said friend is just down right questionable. Don't get your feathers in a tailspin when I don't copy your information for your very worthy cause that I, in all liklihood, already support, but will not support by copying something because a friend has asked me to do so if I "agree or like" their most recent status. I usually very much do "like and support" the status, but I don't feel compelled to show my support by being a copy cat.
Using "Status Shuffle" for my status generator.
Sweet Mother of Pearl. This one really gets me.....If I can't think of something original to say that has some specific meaning to our life, the last thing I am going to do, is "copy" or use someone else's witty status and then have a slew of friends comment below as to how "witty" the status is or "right on" it is, or the standard "I so agree". Facebook Shuffle may indeed be the devil and it is certainly a COPY CAT. Status Shuffle is yet another form of "peer pressure" driven by some type of need to have an interesting facebook status :(.
Participating in a "Blog MeMe".
Posting or joining or following — or whatever the correct term is — a meme. Look this up, they exist. It was new to me too but You won't find me doing it. We will not play games to keep you interested, to keep you entertained. If what I post becomes boring, just close out the page and check back tomorrow. It's really all about Bitsy and her process of long distance Bitsying! Now, with that said, don't think for one minute that you guys are not a huge part of my cathargic process here. I enjoy sharing my joy with you every day as much as I can.
Adhering to the rules of an award by telling ya'll 20 things about Bitsy.
First off, ya'll are gonna know more about me than you ever wanted to if you are reading this blog. I don't wanna, won't and am not gonna adhere to the requirements and rules of an award that requires me to list 20 personal things about myself then pressure 20 of my favorite facebook friends, twitter followers, and/or bloggers to do the same by teasing and honoring them with the same award. I adore awards and I adore getting them, but this Bitsy has a few requirements about them. If I get one, first off, I want it to be a little statue of the Webbman that is the spitting image of him, and secondly, I don't want it to be too heavy. I may be tempted to use it as a weapon if approached by "unpleasantness in any form" if it takes on too much weight. The third requirement is that there must be an all expenses paid trip attached to somewhere tropical and I must be assured that there will be no "mean or unpleasant" people there. Ok, so I have a fourth requirement......I don't adhere to these or any other rules to be eligible for my reward because it appears on the front end of my assessment, that they require work.
Changing my Facebook status to support of a cause.
(I believe we are starting to unveil a minor theme to my list, related to my laziness and fear of the unpleasant....Maybe?) Anyhow, please know that just because I don't choose to light a candle, wear a pin, fly a flag, tease my hair, climb a mountain, walk 10 miles through the valley of hope, despair and death.........it does not mean that I am not respectful of our military, my religion, your religion, your heritage, that I do not love my animals, that I do not love your animals, detest global warming, love the polar bears and want a cure for all blights on this earth.
Entering giveaways that require me to visit and comment on the sponsor's page.
Then, it's entirely optional, but for extra entries — "like" a Facebook page, follow a blogger on Twitter, and tweet and retweet until the sun, moon and stars rise and set a bare minimum of 104 times. Oh yeah, this Bitsy has done these and even gotten excited about them, but bottom line is, Bitsy does not ever seem to win anything, except once and a big shout out and thank you goes to the Hancock County Tourism and Development Bureau. They are the bomb. I spend an hour going to all the places I need to and posting eloquent comments about said item or vendor only to never hear from them again. Not doing that anymore and ya'll should be thankful and excited, I'm not going to ask you guys to anymore either.
The Facebook friend or Twitter Follower Request from your 4th cousin, 3 times removed.
Oh, and I would be terribly remiss if I left out the facebook friend or Twitter follower request. I am paranoid about this type of thing. They may end up being one of those "mean people or unpleasant people" that I quite simply do not want to have to deal with due to the unpleasantness factor! I have enough of those within family - and there again - none of them have last names with the letter "M".
Oh yeah, there are plenty of other, less frequent actions friends (and some of those most "unpleasant" foes) try to pressure me to take, but those above are at the top of my just-say-no list. Like I said before, don't take offense if you do any of them. I don't have a problem with you doing it, I just have a problem with BITSY doing it. So I won't.
The great thing about peer pressure as a grandma is that it's really no pressure at all. Those of us blessed enough to be in this most elite club, know that we make our own rules. What's right for one grandmom may not be right for Bitsy, and what's right for Bitsy may not be right for another grandmom! No stress, No mess. That is Bitsy's one rule for Grandmom's! Excepting, of course, the pressure I felt to let you all know in advance of my just-say-no plan~Just in case you asked. Just so when I ignore your request, you won't feel slighted . . . . or upset . . . . or unpleasant . . . . or like you want to defriend me, unfollow me or just "can" me out of the blogosphere. (I suppose, this means, that YES there MAY, after all be, just a few minor peer pressure related issues to work out, even as a "Bitsy" :)
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