Friday, May 24, 2013

friday already?

This week has flown by. And also been jam-packed. We have not had a spare down moment or eaten dinner at home even once this week. Ridiculous, I tell you. Relatedly, we have also not worked out since Monday. I feel terrible about that but am trying to convince myself that it's not the end of the world. Plus we should be able to train every day this (long) weekend...so hopefully the weather and my laziness will cooperate.

Last night after we ate Cuban with our small group, Matt & I stopped by Target on our way home to pick up a few things. Matt happened to find this clearance shirt while we were browsing in the men's department.


Ha! We're not normally big on the 'ironic t-shirt' thing, but this was just too funny...and perfect for us, since you'd be hard-pressed to find bigger lovers of bacon than us. And also we're having our 3rd annual Bacon Fest this weekend! Wouldn't it just be perfect? Unfortunately, the smallest size they had was an XL, and Matt's more of a Medium, soooo...no go on the $7 bacon shirt. Sad story. But at least Matt let me take this cute picture. And he walked around with the shirt resting on him like that for a few minutes, which amused me. So it wasn't altogether a loss.

Yesterday my dad told me the saddest/sweetest story. My grandparents (his parents), who live in Texas (and are in their late 80s), have been anxiously waiting to see pictures of Carley, their first great-grandchild. Now, they have a computer and email account, but very rarely use either one. My dad had helped Nana with figuring out how to access her email a few months ago when he was visiting them, but he knows that without someone there to walk her through the steps, she really gets too confused to figure it out. So the other day he'd emailed them some of the pictures (*ahem* from my photo shoot...), but knew he'd need to call and help her figure out how to open her email and find them.

TWO HOURS, people. Two hours is how long it took for her to LOG IN. Dad was describing what it was like and it was so sweet and sad, it made me tear up. And it made me realize how much we take for granted the language and concepts of technology....that people in their generation simply don't have. I mean, my grandparents are so smart- Nana was a nurse and Poppie an attorney...but throw in some age, arthritic fingers, memory issues, and a very confusing Yahoo home screen, and no idea how to tell if something is a 'link' or a clue what 'that blinking thing in a box' is (a cursor) or whether any given text is something you can click on...oy vey. Dad gave me the play by play of trying to walk her through FINDING THE PLACE TO LOG-IN, which took quite a long time before he even got to the part where she'd need to remember her user name and password (which thankfully, he'd written down, so it wasn't that bad).

But here's the worst part. Once she'd/they'd gone through ALL THAT-- and she'd managed to put in her username and password...guess what happened.

WORD VERIFICATION.

And I know that they're universally despised, although sometimes still deemed necessary (sorry, can't take it off my commenting lest I DIE OF SPAM). And I'll be first in line to complain about them and how they waste 10 seconds of my time (or a LOT more if I'm on my phone)...and even I, with perfect vision (via my contacts, haha) and sound mind, and no general problems with technology...I frequently mess them up and have to go through 2 or 3 before I get one I can properly decipher.

And after two hours of trying to log-in, with my dad doing the best he can from 1000 miles away to walk her through the steps...my 87 year old grandmother gets a @*$@(!* WORD VERIFICATION. Because she hasn't logged in for so long. And my dad said he almost lost his religion. Because there was nothing he could do to help her with that-- he couldn't see it! And she was so confused, and her eyes aren't as good as ours, and she didn't understand what she was supposed to be doing...and REALLY INTERNET?? Really??! With all this technology, can't you have somehow determined that Nana did NOT NEED THAT?

But guess what. Eventually...with, I'm supposing, much weeping and gnashing of teeth, she made it through. She proved she was Not A Robot. Hallelujah.

She broke into her email. And then it was another 15 minutes before she could find the emails from my dad. And figure out how to open attachments. And make the pictures big enough to see them.

And then she saw sweet Carley.

And my dad said she was speechless. And then she was crying. And hollering at my Poppie from across the house: "Daddy!! [she still calls him Daddy] Come in here!! Come see our new baby!!" And he came, and together they gushed over their first great-grandbaby, and they opened picture after picture, marveling at what God has done. 

And my dad, who said he almost lost his mind and his temper during the 2+ hours it took to get to this point...he said every minute was worth it. Absolutely worth it. God bless technology. My grandparents got to see the baby, and every stupid second of the struggle was worth it.

25 comments:

  1. So I've been trying organize a Bacon Fest here, mainly because I think Dave would love it, and not enough of our friends like/eat bacon. It's so sad :(

    And I CANNOT BELIEVE the Internet. Oh no :( Way to go to your dad for being so very patient and thankfully, it was so worth it, in the end. Your dad deserves a medal, although hearing your grandparents' reactions was probably reward enough.

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  2. Bless your dad's heart for being so patient and willing to make sure that your grandparents could see the pictures. I know how it is to try and help someone with internet problems over the phone & it definitely gets frustrating. I'm glad it was all worth it and they made it past that obnoxious word verification to see the pictures of this sweet little girl.

    The whole time I was reading this I was thinking about what a wonderful heart that you have. Even though you want a baby so bad you still love on your niece and cherish her despite your hurt. You are an amazing woman. :] I am praying for you.

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  3. That is the sweetest story - from your dad helping them to the moment they got to see her! :)

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  4. Oh Erika, what an absolutely beautiful and heartwarming story!! I'm weeping at my desk. God bless your Nana and Poppie. :D Happy weekend!!

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  5. Oh my goodness, Erika! I was pretty much in tears just reading that story about your Nana getting to the see the baby pictures. Nana's are just simply the.best!

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  6. There's a metaphor in there, you know, for one day you will look back and say that every stupid second of your own struggle was worth it, proverbial word verification hurdles and all... I'm confident of that!

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  7. Love bacon.
    Love the bacon shirt.
    Hate word verification.
    Love your Dad's patience.
    Love, love, love that grandparents were able to see the pictures!

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  8. 1. I like Amanda's comment (shocking).
    2. Old people are so endearing!
    3. I pulled up this post with Davis next to me, and when he saw the picture of Matt, he proudly yelled, "DADDY!" So... maybe we need to talk.

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  9. what a sweet story!! My grandparents are the same way...eventually we just opened a facebook account for my grandpa which makes it a lot easier for them to see pictures and stuff. They can just stay logged in and they only have close family members as friends so it's not like their news feed is crammed full. It's nice. AND, you will love this, my parents raise pigs and we always have bacon coming out of our ears. I'm pretty sure my access to pork is the only reason David married me. :(

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  10. So sweet! Your dad's a good man. There's no way I could have made it through that... I'd have mailed them... or heck, I'd have flown to Texas before I attempted to explain all of that nosense! How do you even explain word verification. My mom always gets hung up trying to make it INTO a word. And she's only 56. Bless him!

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  11. Oh, that was such an adorable story, thank you for starting my Friday on a positive note. I guess I should be impressed that my grandmother is in her 80s and emails frequently AND has a blog (that my dad set up and mostly maintains, but still, a blog).

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  12. Oh my gosh, how precious. That made me tear up. And those cheeks in that picture...even more precious!

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  13. That is such a sweet story! Look how much joy those pictures brought to them. Your plan last weekend keeps paying dividends.

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  14. What a sweet daddy you have! But, what's even sweeter is the pure gushing your grandparents did over their new great-granddaughter. Memories that last a lifetime!
    I'm on now to prove I am also not a robot...

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  15. That story was kind of heart breaking/sweet. I would have flown out there and helped them if they never got to see the pictures :)

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  16. Aw! That is the sweetest (saddest!) story ever!! But i love that it was all worth it!

    Word verification is the devil! Have you ever tried Disqus? I use it. It's not without fault, but i never get Spam! I saw another blog say they started using a commenting system recently & have not had spam since... i will have to see what they are using, too!

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  17. This is the sweetest story I've read in a long time. I just LOVE it. What a dear family - your dad, your grandparents, little Carley, all of them.

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  18. I despise captcha. And now!!!!!!! I'm going to add "Erika's poor grandparents had a hard time too!" on my list of reasons why.

    Bless your daddy! I'd rather talk old people though than what I used to get paid to do. Let's just say, english as a second language accounting majors doing payroll are AWFUL to work through technology. I once had to explain what CD rom was. Fo real!

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  19. Your dad is such a sweetheart! So patient! I hate to admit that I probably would have called it quits after an hour. :( Thanks for the reminder that sometimes the sweetest things in life are worth waiting for and worth the hurdles and tears.

    P.S. - I remember your bacon fest post from last year, and I am a little jealous that we do not live in the same city so that 1-we could meet and hang out and 2-that i could fill my belly with all kinds of bacon goodness!

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  20. Well done. That story made me tear up.

    *And oh my. That bacon shirt is so wrong. Hilarious. But so wrong. WTG on the self-restraint in not purchasing it!

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  21. This is unrelated to this post, but I have been reading your blog since I read your letter on E's blog. My sister has been trying to get pregnant for four years and just went through a failed IVF. Any advice on how to be a good sister and friend at what is a perticularly devestating time? She has been really strong over the past four years and her faith amazes me, but I cant imagine how she will handle the latest bad news. I want to love her well and have really appreciated your perspective on dealing with infertility. If you have a chance you can e mail me. If not, no big deal. sonysims@hotmail.com

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  22. I almost cried reading this about your sweet grandma. Before my mamaw passed away she prided herself on knowing what an ipad was. It's so funny to think of all of the advances she witnessed from 1925 until now and I can just hear her in heaven now explaining to my papaw what and ipad is. haha

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  23. Yay Bacon Fest! It is fitting(?) that the smallest size of that shirt is XL - probably intentional. I'll see if our Target has them, but in Texas they probably start at 2X!

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  24. Awwww this is such an awesome post! I love grandmothers, so happy she was FINALLY able to see sweet baby girl!

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  25. I don't know why but your post abt your grandmother struggling to log in so she could see a photo of her great granddaughter made me tear up.

    You relayed that story so well.

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