Notes from Facebook, 2 a.m.: How Ya Doing?

You're not alone Some other neurotic out there is also awake.

If you want to know how people are really doing, log on to Facebook at 2 a.m. Soul Papa and I couldn't sleep last night, so after spending a couple hours in our music room working on a new song (yay!), we decided to hit the sack. Nothing about the silent armageddon felt particularly erotic today, so unlike you and your spouse (just kidding), we just climbed under the covers and clicked off the light. As I tried to drift off, behind closed eyes I noted the cold sleepless glow of an iPhone.

"Wow, people are going mad now," he said. It's true:

• A musician posted a lamp-lit selfie with just the caption, "Now: O'Clock."
• A friend apologized for having insulted others by posting a rather beautiful but possibly suggestive selfie earlier in the day. She's gorgeous; someone out there felt threatened. 
• Another friend admitted she hadn't made color-coded charts for her kid, nor had she watched anything about tigers, and she hoped she'd do better tomorrow.
• And then I have a writer friend who posted in big white-on-magenta letters: "Stop using 'in these uncertain times.'" He's so right. Instead, let's call it "these horribly lonely, mind-numbingly confusing, and terrifying apocalyptic times." There. Is that better? 

Not sure about you, but I'm trying to minimize Facebook time (i.e., look at it every ten minutes, instead of every living $&$%& minute I'm awake.) Can't seem to knock it entirely; Facebook has its good points. It's wonderful to have an opportunity to "hear" voices other than ones that mostly ask for apple juice and Pokémon action figures all day. It's also a place where people are doing crazy sh!#—either doing things so right that they are unwittingly making everyone else feel ashamed, or sharing funnies about how wrong they are doing everything as a way to help each other get through the day. Some people are reminding us to think of those less fortunate. Others are reminding us that this is real, imminent, and worthy of our complete and utter attention. Others look really funny every time they wake up, and they want us to know we're not the only ones who look at the mirror in the morning and go, "Holy #$#$, what happened to YOU?"

The thing is, we still don't know. We don't know what happened to us, or what is happening to us, or what will happen to us. In the meantime, the best we can do is give each other love and grace.

The Atlantic, in its daily email, sent an article today that I'm going to read as soon as I get through the thousand online conference calls I have while we teachers figure out how we are going to educate the children of our town. I have a feeling the article is awesome, and it's not just about our partner. It's about everyone we live with, even the ones who pretty much only care about Pokémon. (If that's your spouse, I am deeply sorry.) Check it out:

Remember that negativity is a relationship killer, in or out of quarantine. Sharing tight quarters with a loved one? Cut your partner the same emotional slack you’d cut yourself.