There is something weird about seeing your life of the past few years flash by, but I keep seeing these little movies the Facebook folks made, and they make me chuckle sometimes -- and they often make me cry. I joined Facebook in 2007.
Now I have a look back video to memorialize it. It's only a minute long, but it manages to hit the highlights.
At first, I never went on Facebook. I ignored it. I didn't see the point. Now I like to go on there and look around because there's always something that makes me laugh, or one of my friends reports something interesting, or I get to see some funny or cute video.
There are also things that make you go Hmmm..... Like last night I took a short "IQ Test" and the result was I have an IQ of 140. I've had it measured before and that sounds plausible. However, I am always skeptical of ANY test of someone's intelligence because there are so many things those tests don't measure, like someone's ability to judge situations, or to learn from one's mistakes, or to interact effectively with other humans, or to have faith in a higher power. People are so much more than their IQs.
I have some sort of virus that's making me have stomach issues and headaches, so I felt rotten all day yesterday. I feel slightly better today. I know it's a virus because normally, even when I am sick, I have a reasonable amount of energy, and right now all I want to do is go back to bed and sleep.
Michael had a long-anticipated appointment yesterday with the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta prosthetist to get casted for a new prosthetic hand, and I just didn't feel like driving across town on a cold rainy day. So I gave him the address for his GPS, handed him cash for the parking deck, and told him to put some gas in the car and go ahead. He's 17 and a good driver.
Three hours later, he returned, complaining about the rush hour traffic.
"That is why we live where we live, and not someplace like Alpharetta where we could get a much bigger house for the same price," I told him. "I do not want to spend my life in the car, commuting an hour twice a day to work." I've never had a job that was more than a 30 minute commute from my house. That encompasses midtown, Buckhead, downtown, and even Vinings when I worked at Home Depot.
I told him how proud I was of him, though. Proud because he didn't shrink from the thought of driving in traffic, in the rain. Proud because when he got there and they questioned him about being there alone he just called me and I spoke to the office manager. Proud because he is the kind of steady, trustworthy kid who is rapidly becoming a fine man.
Yes, he pierced his own ears. Yes, he likes music I can't stand. He won't always wear a jacket when it's cold. He doesn't always do things without me asking him 3 times. He likes videogames too much. That's being a teenager.
I have no doubt at all that in a few years, Michael Thompson will be FINE. Will he be successful? If you measure success properly, by the amount of real friends one has, and the amount of kindness one shows, and not by the size of a bank account - Yes. However, he is aiming to get his lifeguard certification soon, and I know he is going to find plenty of other opportunities to explore career paths, because of his sweet personality and his intelligence. I do not worry about him.
I do worry about my daughter, but she is making her own choices, good or bad, and hopefully learning from her mistakes. I think often that another measure of a successful person is simply this: they make mistakes but they actually learn from their mistakes.
Real success, too, is measured by how happy one decides to be. Happiness is a decision. It has nothing to do with wealth, or power, or intelligence.
If you are alive, and you can pay your bills, and you have love in your life, then relax and be happy.
Mike and my brother, my two favorite guys in the world
