Digital Dos and Please-Do-Nots Story by Sally Anne Sessitte The greenery is put up, or you’re getting to it, and the last of the leftovers have been scraped into the trash. The pantry is stocked with well-intentioned protein powders and the dark liquor and ritz have been shoved over to make room for green juice and wasa crackers. The calendar has rolled around again, which means soon we will swing into celebration season. We’ll have baby showers and wedding showers and welcome suppers and any other excuse to fill the house with fresh flowers - even if they are mostly from the neighbor’s yard. Remember when you could come in a friend’s side door and look at her cork board or fridge over a glass of sweet tea (or wine in a sweet tea glass for good friends), and immediately know which parties she was going to by the display of colorful paper invitations? So helpful for borrowing clothes and gossiping purposes. Y’all know your mama
knows that one lady - bless her heart- who even would see a wedding shower invitation and go on and send the happy couple a wedding gift just to wrangle that guilt-invite. Those days are gone - corkboards now are mostly just handprint art and school conduct reports. “Spirited” and “Minds other people’s business” mean exactly what you think they mean. Paper is out friends, and digital is in, whether we’re happy about it or whether we are hogtied kicking and screaming. If it’s not a wedding, these days, the invitation will probably come on the phone or the computer. And the photos will be online. So let’s be southern about it - if this digital thing is here to stay, we’ll need some “dos and please-donots” to avoid digital drama. A picture tells a thousand humble brags. Let’s just not. If you wouldn’t brag about it in adult Sunday school, think twice about posting it. Haul out Nana’s fur and enjoy every bite of that blue-cheese-crusted
40 | Winter 2023 www.MagnoliaandMoonshine.com
