I received a friend request today on Facebook...from my grandmother. After several years of managing to keep myself under the radar when it came to family, they've finally caught up with me. I am at that point faced with a dilemma. I can either deny the add and pretend I never got it, I can censor my page to be "grandma friendly, or I can accept the add sure of the inevitability that we'll have the "Jennifer is an adult and will live her life as she sees fit" conversation. I chose option 3 with only change being that I moved my marital status from "married" to "engaged". Our families don't yet know we're married, so for now it's the safest bet for everyone involved. Eventually this will, I have no doubt, lead to questions about my status updates, comments my friends make, my spiritual path (that side of my family is devout Catholic), and the way I choose to run my household ("Jennifer, it can't be sanitary. Just use Clorox and Windex like the rest of us!"). In the days when I first started using Livejournal, I made a separate account as a decoy for family. It worked for a short time before I let it go fallow. I was more insecure in my identity then, and less sure that what I was doing was the right choice for me. I now have no regrets and no hesitation. I am no longer ashamed of who I am. If my family chooses to enter a forum of my life that's not their living rooms...they will get the truth. Don't ask questions to which you might not want the answers...and don't get a Facebook if you don't want to really get to know someone. Hi, my name is Jennifer, and I refuse to censor myself for the sake of family ignorance.

Comment! (3) | Recommend! | Categories: life [t], family [t], facebook [t], identity [t]