There are times I wonder what the heck I’m even doing on Facebook. Yes, it’s nice to stay somewhat connected to my friends and family stretched out between Singapore and London, Washington DC to Los Angeles. With all the privacy concerns and Facebook’s blatant disregard for their users much of what’s in my profile is gone now. I also tend to comment on other’s posts rather than waste my and their time detailing the mundane comings and goings of my life. Honestly, most of what people do every day is not worthy of sharing. Those things that are fun or interesting can just as easily be shared in person. Or if it’s not politically correct, funny, and/or needs more color, I get to post it here. With at least the illusion of anonymity.
A few months ago a distant relative of mine friended me on Facebook. This young woman is half my age and close to graduating from High School. Now I’ve known her for all of her life. Her mother is a handful of years younger than me and of course one step closer in relation. A couple of weeks ago I was also friended by this young woman’s mother. For clarity of the narrative I suppose I’d better make up some names so we can all keep this straight. I will call the young high school girl a nice trendy name like McKenna. Her Mother I shall call Emma, and the grandmother I shall call Ruth. Got that.
OK, so when Emma was about 12 her mother, Ruth, split on her three kids and their father. Ruth has always been a narcissistic, insecure annoyance. I’m sure she’d be devastated if she knew that is my opinion. The day Ruth split on her family she took her wedding ring off, set it on the dresser, got in her car and left her home. No one in the family knew where she had gone and with whom. Oh, yes there was another man. The day Ruth split on her family she was supposed to pick her youngest daughter Emma up from school and take her to some function or other. She never showed up. Emma sat at the school waiting for several hours until another family member realized Emma was nowhere to be found and went looking for her. To say this messes a kid up is an understatement.
It was only a short time later that Emma became a drug addict and was quite the alcoholic. By 14 she was trading her body for cocaine or pot or just about anything she could get her hands on. She was also stealing to support her habit. Emma’s grandparents were pillars of the community and tied in to just about everything including the sheriff’s department and the local police department. They stepped in and got Emma into rehab. While her parents couldn’t afford to pay for her treatments and had pretty much given up on Emma, her grandparents were there to support her and help her.
Emma was seventeen by now, a high school drop out and in rehab. She appeared to be a dozen or so years older than she actually was. While in rehab she picked up smoking and met a guy who was also in the program. The guy was a couple of years older, into the local music scene and had been a sometime drug dealer. Just the right combination for a girl with a drug problem and self-esteem issues. It was only a short time after getting out of rehab that Emma found she was pregnant. A hasty wedding was arranged and Emma and her new beau found a place to live and jobs. Emma found that her beau was not the reformed bad boy she had hoped. He started disappearing every night and coming back at all hours either high or drunk. After less than a year, the marriage was over and Emma had moved back to her hometown and in with her grandparents.
Emma’s daughter McKenna was all girly girl from the time she could walk and talk. She and her great grandfather had a very special relationship. Her great grandfather was one of the most naturally alpha men you could ever meet. I’ve written about him before. Often one look from him was enough to get a misbehaving child to stop what they were doing. Most of his grandchildren were afraid of him when they were younger. All of his granddaughters adored him. McKenna’s great grandparents took it upon themselves to try and provide a stable home for McKenna during her formative years. In many respects they did a decent job considering all the pop tart, highly sexualized crap that little girls are exposed to. I’m not saying they were able to overcome all of that, but some of it at least. She’s a good student, she’ll be graduating from high school early. College is in her future. She got her mother to quit smoking, and even helped her get her GED (high school equivalency for those of you outside the U.S.).
McKenna is also like her mother when it comes to the bad boys though. She’s got a rebellious streak in her too. She’s already got her tramp stamp on her lower back. Tongue pierced, and a stud in her nose too. Her mother has always tried to be her daughter’s friend rather more often than to be her mother. Back in April of this year, McKenna’s boyfriend broke up with her. There were about two or three weeks of black, or at least what counts as black to the unworldly teenager, posts. Her life was ending without her man. Life wasn’t worth living. etc. etc. Just a short month after that ended, her FB posts were sunny and happy. Looking forward to the future. This last weekend she changed her relationship status. Ah, the polar mood swings of a woman in love… I caught a thread between her and a girlfriend. The girlfriend was commenting on how ‘hot’ Ed Norton is in American History X and wondering why she found him so sexy. McKenna replied, ‘because he is.’
