Look Up

I once said I wouldn't use Facebook.   I am so glad I changed my mind, and got with the program.  While it can be addictive to some, and a big time waster, for me it is a way to instantly see a picture my clever daughter took with a tripod and timer.  A way to stay in touch.

This is her beautiful family.

That being said, I do worry about the future of  all of us, who are so tuned in to our computers and our smart phones.  Including me.

There are people on FB that I read about often, I know a lot about their lives.  They are people from my hometown, people I have met along the way, people who I know, but people who I would know NOTHING about, if it were not for FB.  I would not visit their houses, I would not call them on the phone.    I would not drop them a note in the mail.
Why is that?

I think about how different it was for me growing up, as for many of you.
If I got to watch an hour of TV in the evening, I considered myself lucky.

We played outside.  Our imaginations ran wild.

One particular memory is of me, and four friends.......Gayle, Jill, Amy, and Sally.
We started a "Horse Club", because we were all 'horse crazy', or so our parents said.
My father, who had a used furniture/junk business, acquired a black buggy somewhere.

We took turns, being the passengers in the buggy, and the horses who pulled it.
All around the neighborhood, we trotted.

There is something precious about that childlike innovation and wonder.  I still remember that time and smile. 
We would sit in a circle on the floor in my attic, and pore over horse books.  We gave each other tests about the anatomy of a horse.  I still can recite them to this day.
When I was 13, and graduated from 8th grade, my parents bought me a Royal typewriter out of the Sears Roebuck catalog.  I longed for it.
It was $88, which I now realize was a LOT of money back then.  I taught myself to type from the book that came with it, and by the time I was a sophomore in high school, ready to take typing, I could already type 50 wmp, and I am sure I was a total annoyance to the teacher.

We hiked up the mountain weekly.  We swam in the lake, or skated on it.   We played BASEBALL in any field we could find.  Or dodge ball.

Ah, what a childhood I had.   And at 9, my father bought me a horse that wanted to kill me.
But what fun, what adventure.  Life was incredible and good and new every day.
And when it was time to stay in, I huddled in my room with books, and notebooks, and dreams.
Why the hell did I need a smart phone? Or a computer?  

Watch this, dear blogger friends.  Tell me what you think.  It's our new world, not necessarily a better one.  Think back.