Circa early 2000’s, I remember sitting in a college course discussing the sociology of everyone’s favorite topic- themselves and self reflection. In 2005 when I graduated, social media was just starting to gain popularity (OMG I feel old typing that) and picking the right song to play on my MySpace page was a really big deal. People started hopping on social media like it was free coffee day at Starbucks, creating even more of a release on personal information sharing… which over the years I started to shy away from to a greater extent. I never really liked talking about myself- opting more for getting to know others instead. We’re talking to the extent that Jason and I often say “Really? We’re not that interesting?” in light of certain social circumstances.
This past year, I fully admit on clamming up a bit more, especially after the spring when we learned about the very untimely and unexpected loss of a favorite client we’ve had over the years. Her news was highly publicized, with lots of speculation and hurtful comments around her disappearance. We had reporters contacting us for wedding and session photos which became locked down and hidden. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain and heartache within her family but it took me back a little from getting more personal as we had in years past, keeping our circle tightly wound and offline. Seeing how people speculate on very little information that someone might share, or blow out of proportion, was disheartening.
Late spring we had another surprise, a planned one, but never the less a very happy moment in learning we were expecting our second (and final) kiddo in February 2017. Although sharing the news would have been spectacular, we kept things under wraps as a personal choice. The only snafu is our network of friends and family is so spread out that sharing our moments online is almost easier.
Have we had experiences in our life that we’d rather not share- of course! Everyone does- but my main goal this year is to step a little outside of my sharing comfort zone. I’m hoping to keep both friends and our client family more in the loop of our day to day that makes us who we are (without being this guy), which I guess makes us somewhat interesting?
Melissa McClain Photography 