Loving the Ones I Love

October 19, 2014November 4, 2014 by theseordinarygraces In Family, My Husband, The Kids, Write 31 Days 5 Comments

Dear Technology,

I don’t love you. I mean, I do. But I don’t like that I love you. I don’t like the way my kids love you. You’re all seductive with your glowing screen and the way you take our minds off everything else in life. I don’t enjoy the way my oldest gets flushed cheeks  and bloodshot eyes and has an emotional breakdown when I ask him to set the table after he’s been using you for too long. I don’t like how I ignore everyone around me when you come around. Or how you trick us into feeling connected without actually connecting.

Don’t get me wrong, there are the times when you make life super cool. Like that text I just got with a picture of a couple who just brought their adoptive son home. Or the Skyping with family that is too far away to actually see on a regular basis. That stuff is awesome. Keep it coming.

It’s the things like Bingo and Facebook on my phone. I mean listen, I already creak and groan when I stand up, I don’t think playing endless rounds of Bingo on my phone is going to make me feel any younger.

And do I really need to know that a person I talked to a total of five times in high school is going to the grocery store today? Or that their kid peed in the big boy potty? Yeah, no. Not so much. And even better. . . Do I need to tell everyone that I’m going to the grocery store???

So today I said “NO MORE!” technology (well, except for posting this, of course). And let me tell you, we haven’t missed you today. We carved pumpkins and roasted the seeds. The kids drew pictures and Ben wrote a letter to Nintendo demanding to know why they won’t make MineCraft for the WiiU. I guess that’s still technology related, but only sort of. I’ll take it.

We took advantage of the lovely fall day we have here before the snow hits and went to the playground where we chased the dog and swung and peed in the woods (every time, boys. Every. Time.) And when I’m done here we are going to sit in front of the roaring fire and play card games and then make Indian food for dinner.

You know what I noticed today? I noticed that Sam eats eggs the same way my mom does. And I noticed the way the grease dances beneath the bacon in the hot pan. I noticed how big Grace’s heart is and made a mental note not to be surprised when she decides to be a vegetarian. I got to see the look on the kids’ faces when they stuck their hands inside a slimy pumpkin.

I noticed how tall Ben is getting and it made me sad. Sad to think of how much I’ve missed with my face in my phone. How much they’ve missed with their faces hovering over iPads and Nintendo Ds’s.

So in an effort to spend my time loving the ones I love, expect to be uninvited more often. We don’t need you lurking around all the time.

See ya never. Well, that’s not true.