I've realized that fact a long, long time ago. The "holiday" season always brings a certain level of anxiousness and anxiety with it, because I know I'm a horrible beast of a man when it comes to "shopping" and "gift-giving"!
"This year..." I told myself "This year was going to be different! I was going to be different!" I carelessly promised myself a different outcome and I'm sure most are you are familiar with the definition of insanity...
Well, this year was different in a few respects: I managed to get my christmas cards out in time (I usually only send them to a select few family members, I know its horrible of me, but please refer to the proceeding blog post before you judge me) and I also even managed to get a few gifts out the door too.
A few weeks ago, I rung up my Mom to ask her what she would like for Christmas.
"Hey Mom, how about a necklace? You know, one of those turquoise cross pendants that were really cool in the seventies!?" I asked, mentally willing her to answer yes.
"Well Son, you know I would love anything you got me."
Did I detect a hint of sarcasm in her voice? Even worse, was that disappointment!?
"Mom, come on! What do you REALLY want for Christmas!?"
A sigh on the other end of the line. Yeeeesssssss! Now we were getting down to the nitty-gritty. Exasperation is usually a good sign!
"Well Son, I would really like an iPod. I want some music to listen to while I'm walking..."
An iPod!? A f#@king iPod!? Really, this was going to be way too easy. I imagined a baby crying and someone running from the scene with handfuls of candy, absolute gobs of it!
"Well Mom, are you sure you want an iPod? Those devices are fairly complicated to operate."
I sent the warning shot over the bow of the proverbial ship, because I know that my Mother's computer skills, her tech knowledge in general, is pretty shabby.
Something so simple and intuitive to me, would be a labyrinth of confusion and fear in the hands of my Mother. She would eventually improvise, adapt and overcome (she was, after a all, veteran of the United States Marine Corps) but the learning curve would be steep and frustrating and unforgiving.
I was imagining her confusion when I sat her down to navigate the difficult and rough waters that is the iTunes software suite. So strange, so redundant, so completely unnecessary! iTunes is like cholesterol for your computer- eventually it will give your operating system a heart attack! It would make mince meat out of my mom's tenuous knowledge of her computer...
"Mom, how about an MP3 player that isn't an iPod. Something that isn't as difficult to operate, load with music and maintain." I felt confident, I felt like this year, Christmas shopping for my mother was something that I could do!
"Uh, ughmmmm okay Son, whatever you think is best..." my Mom's voice trailed off. I could feel the uncertainty on her end.
Would her reluctance foreshadow the frustrations and struggles to come?
"Mom, how about an MP3 player that isn't an iPod. Something that isn't as difficult to operate, load with music and maintain." I felt confident, I felt like this year, Christmas shopping for my mother was something that I could do!
"Uh, ughmmmm okay Son, whatever you think is best..." my Mom's voice trailed off. I could feel the uncertainty on her end.
Would her reluctance foreshadow the frustrations and struggles to come?
I'll keep you posted!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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