………Mothers and daughters have a special bond. We finish each other sentences. We know when a crisis is looming when one of our voices sounds “off.” We share family stories and items of clothes. We often describe each other as best friends. Why then of all the experiences we share, is technology the one which frays that bond to the snapping point?
…….I’m talking computers…..laptops….and God forbid, my I phone. Shannon and I just can’t do computers and a video I watched showed me we are not alone in our struggle. A video short from Inside Amy Schumer shows a daughter who has had to go into “Mom Computer Therapy” due to stress caused by trying to help her Mom with her computer. The therapist brings her Mom with a laptop into the therapy session to help them work through the problem together.
…….It hit the universal Mom/daughter funny bone when the Mom asks for help sending a photo. She contends the photo she wants to send has disappeared and when Amy tells her to turn her laptop on. Mom turns it over and over searching for the on button while Amy tells the therapist “she knows how to do this. I just showed her yesterday.” Mom looks at her and said “I knew yesterday. I don’t know today.” That sounds so familiar.
…….It’s a critical juncture when the photo is found and Amy tells Mom to “drag” the photo. Dragging is hard for me. I can’t make the photo move and devote a good deal of time trying. It is, I believe magic and only those with the magical touch know how to do it.”
…….The video was funny and made me feel that Shannon and I are not alone when her attempts to help me hit an impasse. Although, I am a pretty savvy person having mastered many computer related tasks…..self-taught because my daughter loses patience with me and is not a good instructor. I remind her once that I was the one who taught her to tie her shoes only to have her remind me “No, you didn’t. I’m left-handed and Grandma Margaret had to teach me cause she was left-handed too.” Oh, yeah. I forgot.
……Why I went to her Sunday with a task I thought she could help me with isn’t much of a mystery. After our great computer conflicts occur, they are erased from memory until the next time I need help. On Sunday I was looking at paint chips for my front door and suddenly thought about changing the color of the shutters as well. I want to change the color of my front door from a deep red to a red that would “pop” or maybe a green that would be “vibrant.” I then decide my shutters would need to change color. Big changes and before I visit the paint store I thought if I could just see a few color combos on the house. So I took a picture of my house; forwarded it to Shannon and wrote “Can you put this photo into the computer and make it so I can photo shop different colors on the door and shutters.”
…….She is slow to respond and I sense resistance. I also know she is home cause she just liked something on Facebook. I send a follow-up. “I know you can do this. You put bunny ears on your own photo at Easter and a reindeer nose smack dab in the middle of your face at Christmas.”
…..OK, So maybe I put her on the defensive, but I knew what would follow. The person-to-person call. “I don’t know if I can do that,” she said. I meant to say “have you forgotten your awesome technical skills which enabled you to lay the entire print version of HOMETOWN NEWS out?” What I said was, “Why? Did you get suddenly stupid?”
…….”Did you just call me stupid?” We had reached an impasse. I only had one option left. This is why God invented grandchildren.
……. I texted Abbi and repeated the request only to have her reply “Go to Home Depot or Lowes I’m sure they have an app you can upload”
…..Upload?? I knew you could download, but now they want me to upload. No way am I going down that road with Abbi.
……..I’ve printed the picture of the house and am taping the paint samples on the shutters. Pretty smart, huh!
