Tuesday, December 16, 2014

My low tech life

It's kind of interesting to me that even though I work in IT, I am not really a big gadget or technology person.  As incredible as it is to be able to connect with people and endless resources around the world, anytime day or night, on a multitude of devices, I feel like I may have hit my limit.  Now, I realize that may sound a bit strange as I'm writing this post for my blog, but it's true. 

This entire technological explosion has been a real revelation for me, I grew up with AM radio, a rotary dial telephone that often did not work when the weather was bad, a black and white television that you actually had to use rabbit ears and get up to change one of the 4 channels we had to watch.  News was still delivered on paper in our front yard and chats were across the fence with the neighbor.

I really enjoy the great interaction with people through social media but for me nothing compares to sitting with someone, in person, face to face and having a lovely visit. 

Monday, December 1, 2014

Hannah

It signaled the end of one time and the beginning of another.  There is an old Native American belief that something goes away before something new can come in.  That was my experience 5 years ago as I stood with my friend and her family when their mother passed away.

My life, once again, had become a series of stressful situations and I was not sure what direction I needed to go in.  When I found out that my friend's mother was very ill and going into a nursing home I decided to leave my job and go to be with them.  I knew there wasn't anything I could do except to be there to support them but it felt like the best thing I could do for them and for me.

What an incredible experience it was to sit and spend my days with a lovely woman at the end of her life.  She was not lucid much of the time but she still had vivid memories of her life on the farm and the family she loved so dearly.

At the month's mind I said goodbye to my friends and returned home to begin my life again.  It was a beautiful reminder of how precious life really is and that you should not take even one day for granted....