Your moma facebooks! (wait, that's my mom we're talking about)

I got a call yesterday from my mom. "How can I find you on facebook?" she asked.

I asked her for her email address so I could find her. It's harder to find me on facebook nowadays. I changed my search and privacy setting shortly after getting commissioned to reduce the chances of my soldiers finding drunken pictures of me online.

I found my mom, sent her a friend request and quickly became her first facebook friend. She called me back to let me know she was figuring things out on the site. She told me she decided to get an account at the request of my sister so she could see posted pictures of Ryann Leigh. I sent her and my brother-in-law friend suggestions so they could link up and my mom could see his profile and pictures of his daughter.

Since I was her only friend at the time, I became the first person to write on her wall. I changed my status to "Robert says, "Welcome to facebook, Mom!"

Then about two seconds later, I realized the drawback to being facebook friends with my mother. Most of my drunken antics end up on facebook at some point or another.

For example, consider these recently used status updates:

Robert J. Taylor isn't a math major, but he thinks he might have spent more money on beer then rent since moving back to Moscow.

Robert J. Taylor just handed over $155 worth of perfectly good beer money to UI Parking Services for 2007 parking tickets...

And this great exchange between me and two friends after a drunk encounter with Cute Bagel Shop Girl:

Robert J. Taylor should never be allowed to go to the Bagel Shop drunk by himself again.

Friend one: you do seem to need to be closely monitored while drinking :p what'd ya do this time?

Me:Said things like, "What are you, a BAD WORD HERE meatologist?" "I love you" and "(facebook) stalk me" to the bagel shop counter attendede.

Friend two: haha

This also means I won't be able to facebook about my mom, as I did last week:

Robert J. Taylor thinks it's funny he hasn't seen his mom in three months and the first thing she wants to do is show him her new BlackBerry phone.

Facebook can be a great way for relatives to stay in touch. I have a cousin in West Virginia who I talk to mostly on facebook, including earlier today. However, I have a great relationship with my mother and we talk at least once a week, if not one or two times more than that.

But I'm pretty sure she's about to learn first-hand some of the things I conveniently forget to tell her about when we talk. For example, a sample conversation might include, "How are you today?" "I'm a little hung over from last night. I met a friend for a drink and ended up having a few." While my facebook profile might be screaming, "Robert J. Taylor went streaking in the courtyard last night!"

Somewhere I read you shouldn't post stuff on facebook you wouldn't want your mom to see. Well, after yesterday, my mom will actually see everything I post on facebook.

I'm not sure it's going to change my facebook posting habits, which means, my mom isn't going to have to call as often to find out what I've been up to. She'll only have to read my profile.