Pink Hair, College, Europe and Twitter. Its all related.

 I went to college in the Fall of 1999. Digital cameras were not available then so I really don't have crap ton of pictures of myself from then, let alone a selfie. So, here I am, studying botany. Yes, drinking a mint julep is botany (Latin word for mint is Lamiaceae, hence how I studied botany) But lets look at my hair. My god, that was awesome hair. One day I just took it clean off and got so many compliments. A lot of compliments were, "you look just like Pink!" She apparently had short dark hair at that time, too. One day I was leaving the 'Caf' at school and for some reason there were all these elementary school kids there. They just stopped, gobsmacked and then were screaming and running towards me. Kids (at that time) rather freaked me out, so I dared not move and they got me. "PIIIIIINKKKK!!!" The shock of the attack made it so I couldn't laugh nor speak ("Sorry, um, Pink does not go to school here in Birmingham, Alabama." is what I should have said) No, they asked for my autograph, ah hem, Pink's autograph. I did the right thing of course and signed as many papers for them as Pink. Gave them lots of hugs, high 5's and walked away as badass as I thought Pink would. And kids, well, you're adults now, those autographs are worth nothing.

Pink Hair 2003 - Still getting asked if I'm Pink

My sister and I spent then entire year of 2002 in the UK/Ireland and Europe. We did random odd jobs for fun and more importantly, to save to backpack through Europe. Money was very tight so we had to question our spendings - was it TRULY worth it or not. For instance, while in Austria I saw for the very first time a horseradish. I was just so amazed that it was a real thing instead of something in a jar that I felt the need to mail it to my parents in Kansas. My sister said no, that was definitely not a wise way to spend our backpacking money. Um, I did it anyway. Imagine my parents surprise - opening a box to find a rotten horseradish. "WTF" did not exist back then, but I'm sure they said it. Anyway, something we did spend money on was 2 CD's. One was Pink's album. Buying "Misundaztood" really was extravagant purchase but its still the background to every memory of the best year of my life. 

A little more grown up but can't stay away from that Pink. 2012

So, I've been a fan of Pink and Pink hair for as long as I remember. I've never seen her in concert -bummer. But I think I like HER as much as her music. Who doesn't, right? ANYway,  I use Facebook like most everyone else, to keep in touch with friends, look at cute pictures of kiddos (they don't freak me out so much, I have 3 now) But every once and while I will blow off a few statements of how I feel or what needs to be said. My husband kept telling me I need to blog because my thoughts and opinions were just too strong for Facebook. I like(d) Facebook, I liked feeling connected to people. And really, blogging seemed like so. much. work. I saw HTML and ran away. So between posting pictures of my awesome kids (hey, at least I don't post pictures of my food) I would also post about breast feeding, mothering, birthing, maybe hit on vaccines, health, love, you get it. I didn't know it would ever become an issue. I truly didn't believe in cyber bullying until I got this.

Part of a message sent to me after posting about  car seat safety, formula companies and support for breast feeding moms. 

So, my God, I do believe in cyber bullying now. That message brought me to my knees. I really felt attacked. I was really devastated. I decided that moment it was time to get off Facebook. I would never let anyone attack me or invade my life like that again. So, just as I was about to delete my account I realized I was mourning more the loss of keeping in touch with my friends versus feeling upset over those nasty words. I almost quit, but decided to get better instead. I really didn't know what or how to get better meant but I knew at that moment I wasn't going to quit. I was going to find a better platform or different audience because geez, I've really got a lot to say I didn't want to be bullied into shutting up. I wanted an outlet, I want a community, I want to support my tribe. The only thing I knew of was Facebook, but I realized that wasn't working but I definitely wasn't going to delete my account and that was for sure. 

Two days after that decision to keep my account, something stumbled upon my lap (and how does that work, when I walk I don't stumble on laps, I stumble on my ass...) I'm not sure WHY I even took a second look at it, but hey, my kids were quiet so why not have a  little look. It was a link to a class called HoneyBadgers - Social Media training through Directly Successful. (https://www.facebook.com/DirectlySuccessful) Ding...! I signed up because I wanted to be BETTER at social media. The first assignment was to give Kelly the instructor all our social media URL's. I knew I had signed up for all those things way back when and went searching for my user names. Seriously, what in the heck was Instagram and Twitter? I barely have time to sneak in cheeky glances on Facebook let alone use other social media. 

Twitter was not covered in the course so I asked my very amazing software architect husband, "what the hell is Twitter?" It makes no sense, its so dumb, its not a language, @...#...seriously, this is so dumb." He explains (and he has a lovely British accent, if that helps you imagine the conversation) 

He "Its microblogging"

Me "Dumb, I have so much to say"

He "You @ someone to mention them"

Me "Dumb, you send people emails"

He "You # to be in a topic"

Me "Uhh...dumb"

He "Who are you following?"

Me "Adam Levine, because ya know, its Adam Levine. Pink, because she is awesome. You and my mom" 

He "Its really not dumb, you'll like it..." 

Me "How do I know its really those people and they most get bombarded like 9 million times a day by people @ them."

He "You'll figure it out. I'm going to bed..."

And yes, my mom was on Twitter before me. I'm ok with that because she is awesome. 

So, I'm going to figure this out. I'm determined. Seriously, what can go wrong (oh, well, someone COULD send you a nasty message, but I don't know anyone on Twitter so I'm gonna go for it....)

Ok..so @Pink..yes, I'll @Pink because she is breastfeeding mom and so am I. So, before I do, lets see her page. Oh...I see people are calling her Fat? Wow, thats weird because she is so strong...oh, cute her daughter called her squishy. My kids call me that, too. That is what I will @ her.... and so I did...

Instantly, I got a notification that she ReTweeted me. My husband did NOT cover what a ReTweet was so I sent him a text before going to bed (modern day post it notes for married couples) so when he woke up he knew that I was RT'd by Pink. (I did Twitter, I @ Pink, I was Retweeted. Cool. Love you, Goodnight and Good morning) Turned phone off and went to bed... And Holy Geez, to wake up in the morning an see 100's of notifications and 100's of new followers, virtual high 5's and hugs from around the world. I was messaged by Anti-bullying groups, Mom's groups, women's groups, Pink Fans, Activists groups, breastfeeding groups. Overnight I found my tribe. 

Of course, thanks to Pink. She inspires me and always has, from pink hair to her badass attitude. (and how fun to be mistaken by her years ago and now in the same Twitter feed and CNN headlines http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/14/entertainment/feat-pink-weight-response-hln/index.html) Its been an HONOR to be on a campaign with her - supporting beauty, embracing our freakin' amazing bodies, acceptance, love, power and mothering. I cannot think of anyone else who I'd rather be associated with than the one and only Pink. Thank you for this crazy ride, and crash course on Twitter. Thank you to all the friends who are following me. 

And to all my warriors - when we are close to quitting, lets decide to get better instead. Look what happens.