I woke up in the middle of the night last night, with this overwhelming feeling of needing to protect Grey. I stayed up for literally 3 hours (in and out of sleep) manually deleting every person off of his private Instagram account. An account I've had for Grey even before he was born. It has so many personal and private moments, so many photos, so many videos - things that are just so personal to us as a family that I had to remove access. I just had to. And even though I'm only half awake today, I feel so glad that I spent the time doing it.
All of this happened out of nowhere. In a matter of 3 months, Grey has gained over 3m followers. I don't know how I feel about it most days, but at the same time, I know how much light and love this kid exudes. I understand the obsession and the reason why he has this following. Ultimately, I just want to do whatever I need to and CAN do to keep him safe. To ensure that when he grows up, he won't have this complex about how he sees himself - that the opinions of the internet won't be more important than the opinions of his family.
So for now, while this is fun and while Grey is still too young to understand what is happening, we'll continue to spread love and joy and light. But the minute it becomes more than that, this will be over for us. We didn't ask or want or expect any of this, so it going away will never be an issue for us. And knowing that puts me at ease. <3