Jessicarrot

I remember my head spinning in 2nd grade when my teacher, Mrs. Boatman was telling us about how her family got their first television set and they were the only ones on their block to have one, so everyone came over to watch. Television was of course so much a part of my culture I couldn’t imagine a time when it didn’t exist. Now that I am quite old myself I realize that there will come a day when I get to tell my kids now we didn’t always have the inter-net. Can you imagine? I was actually thinking about the magical day when the inter-net came to our house. Remember dial up? I forgot what a mystical sound that was once. Horrible buzzing and crackling and then, connection. I was just out of high-school when we got inter-net at the house. The first time I went on a chat room was such an adventure. I was in my India phase then, so I looked for an India chat. A couple of clicks and then there I was, communicating with people all over the world. It was addictive. I could communicate with people I never would have talked to for any reason. Real people were out there somewhere, clattering away somewhere, somehow. Amazing. Chats soon lost their appeal. Later on when I was trying to get pregnant for the first time I found Internet support groups very helpful. There were tons of women out there trying to have a baby just like I was. There was an information sharing that was more open and honest than you would ever find with people face to face. And then as a mother, I found these mom support groups on-line that were tremendously helpful. I have been part of a group now through two pregnancies and births. I consider this group of fellow-moms my friends. Its interesting because these are people I’ve never met. But they are people I’ve shared my day to day struggles and triumphs over the past few years. The world is opened up in such a different way through the inter-net. Yesterday I got a package in the mail. I recognized the name of the sender as one of my on-line mom friends. She had sent me a box full of formula and coupons and little gifts for me and my kids because she knows I am trying to start weening my baby girl. That is remarkable. Here is something tangible and thoughtful from one of these people I’ve never actually met who lives all the way across the country. How am I going to describe what it was like when the only way to communicate with someone across the world used to be to write a letter and wait for weeks by the mailbox to get a letter back. Huh? Did that change in my lifetime? Crazy.

I have no more cause to whine. I am alive and able to face the day without ibuprofen. My amazing mother in law came over today to help me clean out my fridge and under my sink. Two very disgusting tasks. She also brought lunch and dinner… I guess my online whining earned me some sympathy! Oh, and flowers! Having her come over made me pull myself together for the first time in a week. And I got all my laundry folded. The children are just about 100% except for some runny noses. And it looks like Hannah and Asher have been saved from the flu. At least so far. I guess it can have a week long incubation period so I can’t say for sure. My kids are troopers though. I probably did more whining than they did. It is so nice to feel fairly well again. I just wish that I could have dropped a couple pounds for being sick like BJay did. No fair.