My mother is one of the most judgmental, mean spirited people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. My sister and I share gallows humor and joke that she is a junkyard dog who bites. You may think I am being over dramatic but in fact, I am being kind.
I just found out this afternoon that my mother is getting a laptop! At eighty years old she wants to learn the ins and outs of the internet. She is going to take a class and learn how to use a computer.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTCCCHHHH CRASH.
WHAT
Who learns the internet at eighty My Mom, that’s who.
The internet is my safe place where it is ALWAYS safe for me to be me. Where I can restrict family members from seeing anything on my Facebook. Where most of my family has no clue what a blog is let alone read one. It is where I have found a tribe which is part special needs parents, other bloggers, people who followed the band, and barfolk. That combo is perfect to me! My people are the village I chose to surround myself with when my crazy family gets me down and leaves me feeling beaten. They are a gloriously imperfect lot who I adore and adore me back.
Since getting the news my Mom will have a computer soon I have heard her voice in my head. When my kids were young I had no time to be on the computer, how do YOU have time to write everyday? How do you get everything in your house clean and perfect if you are “spending ALL your time on the internet”. Oh the criticism in my head goes on and on.
Oh internet friends. Let’s hope she never comes here and never learns to use google.
October 1, 2012 at 7:12 pm
That was actually pretty funny. I got a chuckle out of it, in fact. Being freshly 60 and knowing so many people younger than me that can barely turn on a computer, I don’t see her as a threat unless you spend ALL your time for the rest of the year teaching her what you yourself know. Even then, it is doubtful she could grasp it all. Most folks I’ve observed fear change highly as they age, like the ones I know that are still on AOL, bitch at every OS update and kinda give up. My guess is that she doesn’t want to “miss anything” as her time is, frankly, dwindling down. It’s a quite common burst of weird energy that happens. I think you’ll be just fine. If, for some ungodly reason, she starts to edge up on your turf just send her my cyber-way. I’ll tangle with her and keep her at bay as long as it takes. Thanks for a fun post!
October 1, 2012 at 9:33 pm
Don’t worry. My dad used his computer more for keeping track of his medical records and expenses than he did for FB. He had an account, ans some friends, but rarely logged on. E-mail he used, but not much more than weekly. Don’t worry. It will not effect your life…But, as mentioned above, it was a funny post…