Only nonpartisan in the hood

Swing!

To make these long winter days go a little faster, we signed up for a group swing dance lesson on Tuesday nights. Just four sessions. Tonight was our first and I was kind of nervous about it. Brad has natural rhythm and is a good dancer, while I struggle. But it went okay and was more fun than I expected it to be. I'm grateful that I signed us up without overthinking it.

Really old friends

I met my longest-time friend Mary in kindergarten, I think. She's the one who persuaded me that piano lessons are really fun--then quit as soon as I started taking them with her. I had to stick it out another four years. In high school, she wrote me notes telling me why my boyfriend needed to go. (She was right.) Today is her birthday. When we were teenagers, we used to hold joint birthday parties, since our birthdays are only a week apart. Sometimes they were hayrides at my house. Sometimes they were sleepovers at her house. This year she's celebrating in Mexico, but I like her anyway.

Tech woes

 

Technology can bring us together, as I said yesterday, or it can destroy your day, which happened today. I spent most of the day on a technology issue that could have been so very easy to address if only the error message had said something useful, e.g., "Your account has been suspended because of a billing issue. Please call this number to resolve it." I'm thankful that I figured it before the next business day. It could have been worse.

FaceTime

About 10 years ago, I asked my dad what it was like when we all left home. He said it was quiet, and that every once in a while, he would just stop and wonder what we all were up to. When I heard that, I wished I had called home or written more. But now it's easier than ever for them to hear and see what we are up to, thanks to technology, and they can do it in real time.

 FaceTime is still an awkward experience for me--I don't get how it's possible to look into the camera *and* look at the image of the caller at the same time? But I'm grateful for it. When I visited my parents today, I FaceTimed my sister, who was holding the newest great-grandchild, born just a week or so ago. Another great-grandchild--the newborn's older brother--was eating lunch in the background, and he told us about vegetables. My parents were delighted, awkward angles and all. ("Mom, move the iPad down a little so they can see your face.") I'm not sure that my dad understands exactly how he's related to everyone on the call (my niece and her husband and my brother-in-law were all on the call, too), but he understands that we have a new member in the family, and that everyone is doing well. Technology at its best!

Sister chat

It had been a minute, as they say, since Julee and I have talked on the phone. Today, when she weighed in on an iPhone chat among the sisters, I decided to take a break and call her and we had an old-fashioned catch up. It's weird that our lives each unfold out of sight. You'd think I'd be used to it by now--several of my sisters have lived out of state for 30 years or more--but I am not. I'm grateful for the connection we have, and that we're both willing to tend to the relationship. That can take different forms. Today it was just 45 minutes of filling each other in on our lives.

She's a pain, but also a keeper.