A Little Mystery, Solved

Project 365, Day 171/365

A few days ago, I got a text from one of my best friends. “I just read your 5 things blog and I finally just had to Google what FOAS means because I’m so out of touch with what the cool people are saying these days.”

Her text was followed by a screengrab from a website called acronyms.thefreedictionary.com, with a handful of options for what FOAS could possibly stand for.

Fraction of a Section

Fiber Optic Acoustic Sensors

Fall of Autumn Skies

Footsteps of a Stranger

Friends of the Animal Shelter

“Friends of the animal shelter??” She asked. I laughed SO hard. Before I could get back to her texts, she somehow figured it out. “OH MY GOOD LORD. IT’S FRIENDS OF ARLYN SAYS.”

Honestly, best moment of the week for me. She had been wondering for so long, seeing it post after post, having no idea what my “cool” acronym could possibly mean. I asked her why she didn’t just ask me, instead of going through the mental torture every time she came to the blog to read an update. Well…she’s a new mom of three, and maybe she’s sensitive to being “out of touch” and didn’t want to seem “like a total lahoosaher.”

So, if one of my very own friends doesn’t know what FOAS is, a set of four letters I use to sign off of every post, I have to imagine a good chunk of you also might not know. Maybe some of you don’t really care that much, but for any regular readers who perhaps missed that ONE post where it kind of just came together in the comment section after I tried to make an acronym happen, I’m here to tell you. it means Friends of Arlyn Says. Is it time to make some merch? T-shirts? Coffee mugs?

“Footsteps of a Stranger” is a very good second option for FOAS, I think. A great band name, perhaps.

Alas, there you are. For anyone who has been lost all that time, maybe you’ll have a little “ohhhh” moment today and don’t feel like you have to ask anyone in the comment section. For anyone who already knew, thanks for being a die-hard FOAS. For anyone who doesn’t really care that much, thanks for being a lukewarm FOAS (kidding…sort of). You’re all welcome here, I love you all. 🙂 Have a beautiful Father’s Day celebrating however you do with the father figures in your life.

See you tomorrow, FOAS (!!!).