I really try to keep up on the latest and greatest apps, tech toys, and whatever else creeps its way into the vast world of technology.  I do this because my Mom has been so terrified of it. She refuses to learn anything new.   This makes it difficult when helping her use her Roku or navigating Netflix.   For a while, she had a Kindle, but it became too confusing to her.  On top of the resistance, is her loss of vision to the point of her not being able to read anymore.  So, through her eye doctor, we have an occupational therapist along with a gentleman, Jim, who distributes various equipment that helps in the magnification along with assistance in reading if her eyes become tired.   It looks like a computer which freaks the hell of her.

“Do you do crafts, Mrs. Smith?” this was the question, Jim asked of my mother.  I laughed and laughed.  My mother looked at me annoyed and then laughed.  “No, I am not crafty.”  His only reason for questioning it was to point out that if she was, she could use the magnification for her crafts.  The crafts that she doesn’t do.   My mother thoughtfully passed on her non-craftiness to me.   While mothers in my boy’s schools were making Elmo out of cupcakes, I was trying to find the number for a bakery.  While mothers were making homemade Halloween costumes that looked like something out of a theater production, I was putting a bag with eyes cut out over my boy’s heads.   We both have other gifts.

So, when I left yesterday, she had two different computer looking contraptions on her dining room table.   Her goal is to work on both to see which one she is most comfortable with, which may take awhile.    I was trying to be the cheerleader with my “Wow, this is so exciting!” or my “Look how cool this is”, while her face registered annoyance.   I have decided that it is imperative that I keep up with all changes, so my kids will A) be super impressed with my abilities and tell all of their friends how amazing and cool I am and B) Not ignore my calls for fear that I am once again asking for instructions on how to use the latest and greatest device.