Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Of Desperation and Inspiration by Konnie Enos

This past week or so I’ve had several ideas I could use for a blog post. Having learned that those ideas will flee if I don’t at least attempt to write them down, I made the effort to open a word document and start typing.

The first time I was typing away and got about four hundred words. Then I decided it wasn’t making much sense or wasn’t expressing what I thought it should and wanted to start over, but no ideas came. I let it be figuring I’d figure it out in plenty of time.

A day or so later, I produced another idea. I didn’t even get two hundred words before the entire thought petered out. That one was a complete wash.

Finally, it was time for me to get something written for my post and I’d had a couple of funny events so I thought I’d start there. This time it’s late and I’m tired. I got two unrelated events written down, but I was too tired to mesh them into a cohesive post.

So try again.

Now it’s Wednesday morning and I have to get something written, then what happens?

Jerry is awake and attempting to work with Google Calendar. We are trying to use this technology to keep the family aware of when someone needs the car. But the fact that I’m awake at this hour, as opposed to still asleep, means he feels he can ask me how to do what he is attempting to do.

All fine and good, but he’s doing it on his phone and the controls are different than on the computer, or even on my phone. So he asks me, “how do I do (insert issue)?” and all I can come up with is, “I don’t know.” Not because I don’t know how to do it, but because I have no clue how to do it on his phone.

Now, this issue, for me, might be an age thing or it simply could be because cell phones in general do not seem to have any universal or standard ways to navigate them.

Both Royce and Jerry will hand me their phones trying to show me something and I’ll inevitably touch something or hit some button that messes up or completely changes the screen I’m supposed to be looking at.

It has happened so often that Royce has given up handing his phone to me. He just puts it in a position where I can see it. Which is fine. He has at least figured out what position and angle is easiest for me to see.

Now that might seem like a fairly normal thing to understand but I’m the only member of my household who wears bifocals. In our over thirty years of marriage, Jerry still has not figured out the best position and angle for me to be able to see anything. He holds things at the best angle for distance, but within the best area for reading. So, of course, I can’t see it.

This is an issue I’ve had for decades, even before I met my husband.

Before the advent of technology, and the availability of books on them, whenever I was at church and trying to sing a song I’d find myself with the issue of sharing a hymnal with whoever was sitting beside me. I always found it difficult to do so.

Why?

Two reasons. My bifocals and the height difference.

Whoever I was sharing with ended up being enough taller than me that they needed the book held high enough to see that the book wasn’t even close to the right position for me to use my reading lenses. But they are also too close for me to use my distance ones. The solution was I never shared. To avoid being rude, I carried my personally owned hymnal with me to church each week.

Now one hymnal isn’t that heavy, but when you add scriptures, and Sunday School manuals, I had at least three books, if not four or five, in my bag each week. It got to the point that my children were carrying my bags for me because it was too much for me.

Thankfully, we now have an application that holds all the books, scriptures, manuals, and hymnals I could need at church. One tablet is a lot lighter than even one book. All I have to do is make sure it’s fully charged before church each week.

Now, I’m to the point I have to have something up and what do you know, I’ve written an entire post inspired by my desperation. The lesson this week is desperation will inspire some inspiration if you give it the chance.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.


 

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