Once upon a time I was a girl who thought she couldn’t learn how to use technology. I barely checked my email, I knew nothing about using the PC I once owned. When people would buy me electronic gifts, they would look for something with the least amount of buttons and absolutely no bells or whistles; not even a little tiny ring-a-ling or a itsy bitsy squeak of a whistle. But you know, necessity born out of crisis seems to allow us to tap into some deep source that we have forgotten about.
So today I was thinking of the things I am thankful for in my life and I happened to think upon my blackberry. I was chuckling to myself as I read an email from a friend on my device. The funny part was she was LOLing in her email about the fact that I had sent her a lengthy meditation typed on my BB- just because I had an epiphany in bed and didn’t want to go fire up my laptop! This led me to think about the fact that I have been typing emails on my phone for the past, hmmmm, I have to count them- 3 years!
That was the day I got my first Blackberry, it was a red flip style, pocket-sized- this was a necessity as I wanted it to fit in my jeans pocket- and it had a Qwerty keyboard. Now you have to understand that prior to this I had a phone that didn’t even text. Apparently I could receive texts, but couldn’t send them, still seems a bit strange to me, but oh well. I had never even figured out how to Add Contacts without ending up with some odd spelling of their name. And as the world often works, for the first time in my life I had the need to check my email everyday, and using friends, libraries, and the church computer was becoming laborious.
As I turned on my little red Blackberry for the first time at about 10 AM, the phone rang within 30 seconds. I couldn’t even figure out how to answer it. By noon I had set up my email and downloaded FB to my BB and I was receiving! When I finally figured out that BB Messenger was free, I had that kicking too. I quickly learned to re-read every email I sent, those Qwerty keyboards really create some interesting sentences! And strangely I had a radical sense of empowerment that I had not had possibly ever before in my life. I actually figured out how to use something with more than 10 buttons. Not only did I figure it out, I was pretty darn good at it.
Well, today I am on my 3rd Blackberry device. This one has a full keyboard and I am just as enamored with it as I was with my first little red one (still have that one BTW). So, as I look back on my three years with Blackberry, I have to say- I am thankful from the deepest parts of my heart and soul. It might seem silly to some, but the freedom and confidence I found with my Blackberry opened up my mind to my abilities. It opened me up to the fact that I was actually quite independent. I was finally able to see that I did not have to believe the information that I had been given about my lack of skills, or what I wasn’t good at. For goodness sakes, how do you know what you’re good at if you haven’t ever tried!
So today I send out gratitude, thanks, glee and hugs for the emails I have sent and received, the memos I have saved, the texts I have Qwertied-up, the BBM’s that have connected me to those I love, the business I have conducted, the directions I have found, and the calls that have blessed me for the past 3 years.
You know, sometimes it is the non-simple things that make a difference too.
PEACE, LOVE AND PINE TARTS TO YOU TODAY! 🙂 🙂 🙂