Tonight, my husband and I had an evening to wine and dine ourselves. On the agenda for the evening was dinner and a movie – boring, maybe. But, that’s enough for me.
We made it to dinner, but not the movie. It was decided that we would catch a film through Dish on Demand (Technology extraordinaire). We headed to dinner and took our time. We weren’t rushed. I didn’t have to take anyone to the potty. No one spilled their drink…wait, Brent did. But, only a little. There was no whining about crayons or the lack thereof. Nope…Granny had the kids. I took comfort in the fact that they were safe and sound with her at home, bathed and in PJ’s.
We were halfway through the appetizer when I got the call…all of you with parents of the baby boomer generation know the one I’m talking about!
Me: Hello?
Mom: Hey! We need help.
Me: Oh. What’s wrong?
Mom: We can’t get the DVD to work in your room.
Me: Why don’t you watch it in Hayden’s room or the living room?
Mom: We want to watch it in your room – it’s more fun. Your bed is bigger!
Me: Well, here’s what you have to do…
I proceeded to explain the process of switching the receiver to the correct setting, changing the channel on the TV to AV2 and making sure the DVD player was on, not the VCR. Shortly after that, Ratatouille was in surround sound!
You can’t help but laugh at all this! Heck, I’m even guilty of being technologically illiterate. Once it’s all setup in my house, we have to have a run-through of how things operate and what buttons on which remotes get me to Grey’s Anatomy on Thursday nights. DVR was a whole nother demon I’m proud to say I tackled! But, it wasn’t so long ago that I remember the only thing you had to do to get a movie going in my house was turn the VCR on. Moving a TV from one room to another didn’t take an act of Congress and it was so simple an 8 year old could do it.
Not anymore. This Hi-def world we live in today provides us with clearer pictures, better sound and wider screens. But, unless you have an electrical engineering degree from Auburn University, you probably can’t get any of it to work!
I laugh at my mom. My in-laws are the same way. They’ll go out of town and call my husband with, “Your mom can’t get the satellite working! Tell her what she’s supposed to be doing!” But, because it’s the latest and greatest, we want it. Nevermind that we don't know how to use it!
I can only imagine the horror that awaits me as my son rolls his eyes and says, “Give it here, mom! I’ll do it.” He’ll probably walk away annoyed and laugh at me with his friends. They’ll all joke about how they can’t figure out how we’ve raised them this far. They’ll throw in that they can’t imagine cassettes and having to listen to an entire set just for the one song and God knows computers will have far surpassed us by then…but that’s part of it, right? Living, learning, growing and being made fun of. Yep, that day when I no longer know more than them is just around the corner. I don’t look forward to that!
Until then, I’ll continue to bask in the glow of being the one that was on the other end of the phone that got Ratatouille working! Because right now, I’m still the hero…and that’s good enough for me!
4 comments:
You are so right! My mom calls me for the same thing. Bless her heart sometimes she can't even get the cell phone working. Gosh forbid, somebody wants to play the Wii. I get so aggravated when I come back home to visit, everyone wants me to fix their computer, cell phone, etc.
That's funny! See, I avoid the 'getting asked to fix stuff' thing by pretending that I don't know how! Just kidding! I didn't even touch on cell phones...but so true!
You think thats bad, I grew up with only 3 channels of TV. 3! No VCR's until I was in High School! I know...I'm old!
Hold on Patrick...I'll go get my bag of sympathy for you!
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