About ten days ago, our house was struck by lightning. Thankfully, the damage was not severe apart from some appliances and circuit boards that got fried with the enormous voltage surge that invariably accompanies these events. We lost the TV signal, land line phone and the internet.
"No TV?" my son exclaimed. "There's an NBA game tonight!"
"No internet?" groaned my daughter. "We've been thrown back into the dark ages!"
"Well," I said. "Maybe we can all sit and play some board games---"
"Sure, dad", "Whatever", "Yeah rite!" are a few of the less than enthusiastic responses that I got!
Dark ages?!! Are we that dependent on the technology of the 21st century? The short answer -- YES! And some are more hooked than others. So how did life move about 15 years ago when we all were not this blessed with the gadgetry and for the most part --hold your breath--- no cell phones!! Even I have a tough time imagining life without mobile phones, which seem to be an extension of our bodies now. And all these technological wonders do come with a tremendous advantage of giving us the ability to connect to friends and family at virtually any time.
But to be fair, our kids were great during the mini crisis. We were all able to connect to each other a little more. But I think the fact that they still had their cell phones helped a lot! The texting intensity and frequency noticeably increased. The speed at which these kids text makes me dizzy!
Sometimes its hard to remember that it is okay to take a minute to relax and not to be plugged in all the time. Maybe we all should try, for a few minutes each day, to disconnect from the world and to reconnect with ourselves.
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