Well, I've certainly come a long ways from the days when I would attempt to use the computer and end up either crying, screaming, ranting, or all of the above until my kids would come running to bail me out. And though now I use the computer daily with ease, design and maintain websites, e-mail, blog, and will soon twitter, I stop short of calling anything having to do with computers a blessing....with one exception.
I would have to say that Classmates.com, for me, classifies as a blessing. I don't even subscribe to it, but my brother does. And through that, he was contacted by my best friend from my pre-teen/teen years. Our family lived in Muskegon at the time and Suzy and I quickly became the best of friends. We rode the bus or walked to school together every day, we bowled together every Saturday, we camped together most weekends in the summers, and we just generally hung out together. When I moved back to Hudsonville before high school, we managed to continue our friendship through phone calls, letters, and occasional visits. But somewhere in those post high school years we lost touch -- for close to 30 years! And then my brother called to let me know he had heard from her and how I could contact her.
We have been e-mailing back and forth since the beginning of the year and the posts are usually long and detailed -- we've got a lot of catching up to do. She has lived in many different areas of the country since those days and currently lives in Arizona so I don't know when we'll get to visit in person, but I hope someday that will happen. I'm not even sure what she now looks like, we're still working on the picture exchange thing.
What a cool way to start my year! And mine is just one story. I'd imagine there are many more reunion stories from Classmates.com, so I would say they are a blessing not just to me, but to many others. But don't rely on the internet, reconnect today with a long lost friend of your own. You'll be blessed because of it. Peace out!
Okay, I realize that there are some people who have to have power for health reasons and hopefully those people have backup generators. But for the majority of us, we rely too heavily on all the gadgets that are powered by electriciy. The picture shows our sanctuary with only auxillary lighting working. Our first reaction was "oh, no, what will we do?" No cooking, we can't see much, and...OH, NO... NO X-BOX! But the kids were real troopers and were able to occupy the next 3 hours with no power. It actually worked in our favor. The highlight of the night was a grueling hour of capture the flag. (After losing several times, my team won the last round when I implemented "OPERATION FAKE INJURY". I've tried it before with no success, but Friday night as I rolled around the floor screaming, and with my opposing team son yelling "Ignore her, Ignore her!", my teammates zoomed in to capture the flag and win!) We ended just in time to greet the pizza delivery man.
Pick some dandelions -- the thicker and longer, the better.
And drop into a bowl of cold water.
She is a big "felter". And this Christmas she made me this custom Refunction Junktion stocking for me to hang in my shop. It's so adorable. I couldn't believe she would do that for me, not just for me but for my business. She also always loves everything I make (I know she's biased, but she's so sincere that's it's cute.) And she screamed louder than anyone when I called to tell her I would be featured in the paper. Her "cheerleading" skills me more to me than she'll ever know.
I would have to say that Classmates.com, for me, classifies as a blessing. I don't even subscribe to it, but my brother does. And through that, he was contacted by my best friend from my pre-teen/teen years. Our family lived in Muskegon at the time and Suzy and I quickly became the best of friends. We rode the bus or walked to school together every day, we bowled together every Saturday, we camped together most weekends in the summers, and we just generally hung out together. When I moved back to Hudsonville before high school, we managed to continue our friendship through phone calls, letters, and occasional visits. But somewhere in those post high school years we lost touch -- for close to 30 years! And then my brother called to let me know he had heard from her and how I could contact her.
Not the mailbox, not the garbage (though it shows you have plenty if you have that much to discard), but I am thankful for GARBAGE PICKUP. It's probably what inspired me to do this in the first place. Every garbage day, I would find myself in the kitchen dancing around saying "WooHoo, It's Garbage Day". Not exactly sure why, but miss one week and it makes a little more sense. Try missing two weeks in a row and it's very obvious what is great about garbage pickup. Oh, how I love the sound of that big truck every Monday morning.
