<<If it was really THAT big, you think it would fit on this guy's arm??  

So the other day I posted the following message on my personal Facebook page.  Not my Mother Cusser one.  Because my Mother Cusser page isn’t about me really – it’s about my fans.  They don’t care how I’m feeling.  And they shouldn’t.  They are not there for my personal self-esteem.  I am there for them.  I am there to make them laugh or to make them think or to piss them off.  And believe me, I piss them off a lot.  I regularly get posts that tell me, “That’s it! I’m out of here!!!”  

I don’t like it when they do that.  Bums me out.  But, if you’re going to roll with me, you’d better toughen up.  You came to me for a reason.  And it wasn’t because I was a sweet little pussycat.  So suck it up and learn to disagree with your Mother without running away like a little baby.  Then stop disagreeing with me because Mother is ALWAYS RIGHT.

But I digress…

So on my personal page I wrote the following message: So happy.  And one person responded – “And you make others happy too.” And then one more person said the SAME THING!

I was floored.  ME?  I make other people happy?  I mean, I know I made my kids happy on Christmas.  I know that my Little Pumpkin Pie is happy when I cook for him.  But am I just one of those people that makes other people spontaneously happy??  

And you know what else? I haven’t seen these two people in like 298392 years.  Hardly even talked to them.

Social media continues to amaze me in that way.  It matters.  And it’s such an easy thing to do – to be standing in line at the DMV and quickly type a nice message to someone.  You don’t have to send a card.  Or, gasp, make an actual phone call.  But one happy little sentence like that can mean the difference in someone’s entire day.   It did for me.  Still is making a difference actually.

When I hear feedback from fans I get the same feeling.  People tell me I’ve changed the way they parent.  Or they tell me that they’ve been parenting that way for years and are glad to be validated.  People write to me for advice. Or just to tell me that I made them laugh so hard they spit out their coffee.   Facebook has allowed a direct dialogue with people that I might never talk to otherwise. 

Making the world a much smaller place.  

So this year – I plan to continue to value the power that is social media. I will take the 3 seconds it takes to tell someone they are awesome.  Also, I plan to stay busy on Facebook with my fans.   To give them what they want. To keep them engaged and entertained.  

But that doesn’t mean I’m going to be nice.  Cuz I’m not nice.  I’m Mother Cusser.