curiouser and curiouser

So, you know my penchant for doing little experiments?
Like, with pasta (after the 2012 trip to Italy) and with cherries (after Barbara's 2017 trip to the West Coast) and, more recently, with apples?
Well, my latest has been on social media.
I've been updating my profile photo for the last few weeks, usually allowing a week or so to elapse between changes.
The 'experiment' began on February 21.

"Me and Daddy, way back when. <3"
The photo garnered 49 likes/loves.
There were also quite a few comments.

Barbara Narcarti: "Those were the Days."
Venita Johnson: "So sweet"
Sandra Karlin: "Very sweet photo!"
Faustina Smith: "Being the first child - and only daughter - I couldn't help but be a Daddy's girl."
Marcia Ford: "Ronnie looks just like him. I always wondered what he looked like. Christina looks a lot like him. Very handsome. Now I know where you all get the Lookers. So sweet. I love you too. Thanks for loving our family so much."
Gene Perrone: "Nice photo....very sweet!"

Christina Smith: "You look so much like me."
Faustina Smith replied
· "Um... that's the other way around... I was before you."

Then, on February 28, I changed the photo.

"March 18, 1978, when I was two months shy of 20. This was here in Savannah, at the square with the gazebo, on the day of my first wedding. Mama was 41. Within the week, Keith and I were on our drive from training in Pensacola to NSGA Galeta Island in Panama. Good times!"
This photo did pretty well, with a total of 40 likes/loves.
Several comments were made, too, mostly by long-time friends.

Robin Ritenour Jenkins: "I remember it. I was there!!"
Kevin Crabtree: "Gaaaaw! Weren’t you just radiant?"
Dianna DiBenedetto: "Aw, that is beautiful. Sybil is and always will be so beautiful inside and out. Miss her. Would you mind if I save this for Hope and the grandkids?"
Jo Coleman-Williams: "I remember."
Hokie Davis: "I was married in Whitefield square in 86!"

On March 9th, I changed the profile photo again.

"Okay, one last photo from March 18, 1978. Here, I'm with my one and only Grandma (Lorena) and Grandpa (Dick) Lee, in Savannah at Whitefield Square. He died of pancreatic cancer just a few years afterward, while I was in Okinawa. He and I had AMAZING debates! Grandma was the reason I chose Florida State for my doctoral studies, to let me be closer to her. She passed away in 1997, one year after seeing me walk across the stage in my graduation robe. Good times!"
In the five days that it was up, it had 32 likes/loves.
There was only one comment, by one of the Boomers group members.

Kathy Butler: "There is nothing better than grandparents! Mine were so special and I still miss them."

From these results, it's clear that people love photos of babies.
(smile)

Then I threw a monkey wrench into the works.
Last night, I watched "Captain Marvel" for the second time, on "Tina Tuesday" with Kevin.
I again changed the public photo of me.
The time was just after midnight.

"Me at 23, in 1981, sitting in my barracks room on Torii Station in Okinawa. This is one of my favorite photos of me EVER. Thanks, Rick Putt, for the shot!"
The response has amazed me.
The photo has already gained 67 likes/loves - and even a 'wow' -
in only 18 hours.
Quite a few friends from this past decade (or two) have also commented.

Jeri Monroe: "It’s a beautiful photo!"
Roy Wood: "23? Looks more like 13."
Frank Dinan: "Are you a former ‘jarhead’, Tina?" I replied: "A former sailor!"
Yvonne Pizzo Roach: "Look at that Baby Girl!"
Bill Cooper: "Swellness........BC"

Seriously, I don't quite know what to make of the results of this experiment.
I'll let this latest photo be for a week, then see what may be surmised.

I truly do love this photo of me.
That's why I have it on one of the bedside tables.
It gives me a sense of peace to remember that version of me...
the one before death began claiming so many pieces of my heart.