What? A Blog?

Wow, a blog.  Never thought in a million years I'd be writing a blog.  I recall back in my sophomore year of college, some umpteen million years ago, sitting in Intro to Computers 101, a pit class.  A one semester course with the option of a follow up pit class, Intro to Computers 102.  The prof prayed for internet connection all THREE times she tried to dial up claiming it was *new* and *improved* and more user friendly.  All three times failed.  Miserably!!  What we witnessed was basically just classroom speakers screeching out an incredibly loud dial tone accompanied by some serious feedback, then a horrendous "ring" once an outgoing line was found.  Finally, a bunch of dings and dongs, and the grand finally, the letdown of a busy tone.  Sorry, please try again in, oh say, two years.  I remember thinking to myself, "Self, this internet business will never come to fruition in your lifetime.  It's too outrageous.  Maybe in your offspring's lifetime but definitely not yours."  Well, hardy har har to that 1994 pessimistic teenager.  IT IS ALIVE!!!  And we've come to depend on it, completely.  I remember, in that same 101 course, having such a difficult time identifying with the ideas that files went into folders.  What??  Aren't they the same thing only one has pockets and the other tabs?  And really, they don't get "saved" onto a hard drive or a floppy disc, but rather walked across the room and filed, using some crazy system, into a metal cabinet you prayed wouldn't fall over and smoosh you to death.  Fast forward a year and you'd find me in the first block of classes toward getting a bachelor of science degree in Exceptional Education.  There, we were introduced to this dark, creepy room meant to represent the common classroom in the year 2000.  Really!!!  Still using the old fashioned overhead projectors with wipe off markers we were introduced to the new and improved electronics of our future profession.  We ended up having to team up on Mac's because they were too expensive to have one for each student.  Then, there was the heat those mammoth boxes, I mean computers, pushed out.  Yikes, it was like sitting in the boiler room with a bunch of unshowered college kids the day after a house party (oh wait, that's really what it was).  And yet what one thing was the "key" to everything?  A bent paperclip!!  Litterally!!  It was the golden key.  All this grandiose, updated electronic hype and in the end we depended on a large, bent up paperclip to jab into a dimple near the floppy disc drive in order to forcably eject a jammed disc and restart the computer.  So, you can understand why I'm just a tad bit surprised with myself at where this life has lead me.  Writing a blog?  What?  (And incidentally, whatever happened to closed and open apple anyway?)

 

Now here's the funny thing.  You know where I am writing this?  I don't mean typing this.  I mean writing this?  I'm sitting on a wooden picnic table in my backyard watching the two kiddos playing in freshly fallen maple leaves.  Am I using an electronically powered notebook, phone, or laptop?  Heck no!!  I write these words in a beat up black and white composition notebook using a black Paper Mate pen that is nearly out of ink.  There is no room for electronics here.  This is my personal heaven for the moment.  My kids are happy, running, trying to catch magenta colored leaves on their heads before they fall to the ground.  The sun slips through between neighborhood houses and in an instant that magenta leaf turns BRILLIANT.  All this reminds me to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n.  Take a breath.  Relax.  And live in the moment.  Because too soon it will be gone.