I was raised a bricklayer like my older brother, my father his father and his father before him. But this is truly a whole new world and I am scrambling to keep up. My daughter is 4 and she will never own a record, a film camera or a rotary phone. What really brought it home is when we saw a typewriter in my insurance agents office and, at FOUR YEARS OLD, she asked me where the screen was! The YouTube video was just a reminder of how fast things are moving and will move in the future. I have a responsibility to keep up with technology for myself, my daughters and my future students. There are so many things we now take for granted. Remember the old days when we left the house with a wallet/purse and our keys? Now we have those and a cell phone, Blackberry, pager or Nextel. We get in our cars and turn on the navigation system when we used to use a Thomas Guide. These things are great but I feel we have a serious responsibility to ourselves and the next generation NOT to be lulled into a false sense of security by technology that can break-down. I always carry a small tool kit, a flashlight, maps and change for a payphone in my truck and I teach my daughters they need to do the same. We are on a E-ticket ride but even Walt Disney knew that rides occasionally break down.
As far as the weeks activities go, I am a little worried about making things work. I keep sending pictures from my cell phone to Gmail but they seem to get lost along the way but I'll figure it out. One way or the other. If resiliency is a class requirement I think I'll be OK. Surviving two knee replacements, a hip replacement, two daughters and ten years of marriage. I think I qualify as resilient. But really, I've never been happier. I love my family, the sun rises on my wife and sets on my daughters. Or vis-a-versa.
