Isolation

Last week my computer died.

It went to the computer fix-it shop and stayed for a week. During that time I experienced symptoms of weird withdrawal.

Now I don’t have time to play games on my computer. (I discovered this when I was given Scrabble software. I would open the file and tell myself I would only play 2-3 games. The next thing I knew, an hour plus had passed and I still had not accomplished the task I had set out to do in the first place! That would either be called Scrabble addiction or lack of self-discipline.)

I have owned a personal computer since the late 80’s but didn't have e-mail until the late 90’s or perhaps later. Then I became better acquainted with the internet’s Information Highway and the cords slowly drew tighter. A large percentage of my shopping is done by Internet since I am not a “shop till I drop” type and vision challenges have a negative bearing on real shopping.

The morning after I’d delivered my computer to the fix-it shop, the reality set in. I usually check my e-mail after breakfast to see if there’s a message needing an answer. No e-mail access!

That was the week I had planned to do some serious work on formatting “The Women Who Knew Him” for print/hard copy. No computer!

I was reminded that Easter comes early this year and I need to order boxes of Easter cards so I could prepare my annual letter to enclose in said cards. No internet access!

It really is strange to be out of contact with friends and acquaintances after being accustomed to not only e-mail but also FaceBook. I don’t have an I-phone or an I-pad so as limited social medially (did I just coin a new word?) as I am, I really started feeling isolated.

After a short “pity Patty party”, I decided I might as well redeem the time, so my Bible study homework got caught up and I started preliminary work for my next book.

In a week’s time I was once again connected with the “world” and dealing with the configuration (or something) of a new hard drive. I’m sure there is some great symbolism there, somewhere, but I don’t feel like exploring it at the moment!

This has been an interesting experience, somewhat akin to “fasting” from TV viewing for a week. For me, however, the lack of a computer was more difficult and proved that I’m not really a hermit at heart after all.