My son and I communicate via Instagram. And I love it.

Sounds crazy, right?  Most parents gripe about the excessive usage of social media by our kids these days, myself included.  About a year ago, though, my 14 year old son and I started sending one another funny stories and videos via Instagram.  Ninety-nine percent of them include goofy animals.  We share the same crazy affection for creatures and the same silly sense of humor.  Most people probably wouldn’t find some of these photos so entertaining, which makes it even better.  It’s our thing – his and mine.  When we began doing this, it was completely random.  One of us would send a pic and then about a week or so later, the other would reply.  Nowadays, it’s on the daily.  I love that he sees something funny and immediately thinks of me.  Yesterday, I got three of them – sent in the wee hours of the morning, but still sent from him to me.  He’s a teenage boy which means the amount of verbal communication from him is greatly lacking most of the time and he spends more time in his room than I can count.  So I’ll take the all-hours-of-the-night, comical way of reaching out to me.  I can only pray it continues in the coming years. 

He’s in the middle of midterms right now but I just texted him a funny quote from his latest round of photos.  He won’t get it until he turns his phone back on at the end of his school day.  But when he does, he’ll know exactly where I got it.  And hopefully he’ll send me another.