PIVOT.

Alexis and her friends are ... let's go with "special." They're a unique bunch who do things like decide they MUST go see a Friends marathon at the movie theater because OBVIOUSLY. Don't bother to mention that the show ended before any of them were born; they don't care. They have all seen every episode at least six times and did I mention that they were all wearing Friends-themed shirts when I picked them up?

They're special. Each and every one of them. (Truly. Alexis has a really great group of friends.)

The whole thing had been planned for over a month and from the start, I was the parent elected to play chauffer. Which, that was fine. I don't mind at all because have you listened to a bunch of 8th graders having a conversation? IT IS THE BEST. They're hilarious in every way because they're just old enough to be good at sarcasm while also being just a bit gullible. For example, there was a point when they all asked if I would take them to the Milkshake Factory after the show and I dead-panned, "Are you kidding? Of course not."

They were legit disappointed for about 2 seconds, until Alexis realized I have never in my life turned down a chance to step foot in a Milkshake Factory. Then they laughed and laughed and ... 8th graders are the best.

ANYWAY. As we were driving to the theater, I had Google Maps open on my phone because traffic is stupid and I like to avoid it. One thing led to another and, suddenly, one of Alexis' friends was all up in my phone clicking on stuff. That's a thing girls that age do, for what it's worth. They steal phones and dig around on them. The good news is that I don't care. The better news is that the girl ended up opening up Facebook and was ALL sorts of confused by something she saw.

Sooo ... another friend, one who was not a part of this particular outing, happens to have a mom who takes photos of all of her daughter's friends when they're over and posts them to Facebook. As in, if they host a sleepover, we all know about it because there will be photos posted through the night. If they host a party? LOOK OUT! You're getting an organized group photo and some candid shot of the festivities. I don't know the motivation behind all of this, but I do know that I really like the mom. She's genuinely a nice person. A nice person who posts photos from an 8th grader's parties to her Facebook page where none of the kids in attendance can see them. o_O

The friend in the car who happened upon evidence of this whole thing, of course, felt the urgent need to show the rest of them. Moments later, I was treated to a conversation about how it's super creepy if your mom posts photos of your friends to her Facebook account. The theory amongst the girls is that the mom needs to show evidence that her kids have friends. I have no idea if that's true or not, but it is hilarious.

So the girls treated me to this whole theory, and it was hugely entertaining, and then they went to see a bunch of episodes of Friends. Afterwards, I took them to the Milkshake Factory and life was good. Very good.

Though, it was WAY past my bedtime. I cannot keep up with a bunch of 13-year olds, you know. I mentioned it was past my bedtime to Alexis, which reminded me that I hadn't taken a #bedtimethings photo yet, so I asked her to pose for a pic with me. Alexis was quick to agree to the plan, but then a thing happened. The friends, all of whom follow me on Instagram because who doesn't follow their friend's mom, heard me say, "I need a #bedtimethings" and were all, "CAN WE BE IN THE PICTURE?"

The irony was COMPLETELY lost on them, but let me just say, my kid does have friends. Posting a photo of them on Instagram is NOT like posting a photo of them on Facebook. Not even a little bit. Ahem.