Off the Grid

I was completely off the grid and unable to get internet or telephone reception for several days. I can’t ever get any cell phone reception in my house so I was pretty isolated.

It’s amazing how addicted we are to being able to communicate instantly over many miles.

When I was a kid, we had a telephone. but message machines hadn’t been invented, and it cost a lot of money to phone somebody using Long Distance. Mailing letters could take over two weeks to arrive if it was for someone who lived far away and at least the same amount of time to get a reply.

But compared to people in centuries past when it could take months for people like the pioneers to get mail from people where they had lived before, we were already at a great advantage.

And, today, we expect messages to arrive anywhere in a matter of seconds. We’re spoiled.

Someday we may have brain implants instead of phones.

But just imagine if some evil world government were to take over those implants and control everyone on the planet. Sorry, but as a writer I have to use my imagination.

In the meantime, I’m grateful to be back online and having a phone that works.

Moving

I'm moving this week.

Fortunately my new home will be only a few blocks from the current one, but it's smaller so I've been getting rid of lots of stuff. It's amazing how things accumulate.

The hardest thing about moving is that you can't go home from it. But I've learned from experience to set up a place in the new home where I can turn my back to the mess and relax for a while.

If you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know why.

Bedtime Stories

When I was a little kid my parents read to me and my brother every night before bed.

We would each get to pick one picture book.

To my dismay, my brother always chose the same book. It was The Animals of Farmer Jones.

I would get so frustrated because we could have been hearing two different stories every night instead of only one. 

I guess hearing the same one over and over gave him a sense of security.

But it’s a good thing that our parents read to us, no matter what the titles. Reading to kids at bedtime not only helps them relax, it stimulates their brains at the same time. And it encourages them to appreciate the importance of reading.

Did your parents read to you when you were a kid?