These days there are many ways to stay connected. For this blog, I'm talking about the digital aspect and how I stay connected to friends and family. I'm very grateful that I was born in the late 80s and that I grew up when technology was just becoming accessible to everyone. I remember our first internet hookup was AOL, and I used to get so excited whenever that automated voice would say, "you've got mail!"
It wasn't long before I had my own computer, thanks to a generous guardian angel named Mr. Thompson.
When I was ten, a man named Mr. Thompson granted me the wish of my first computer with voice activation. He didn't have family or relatives to leave his money to, and for reasons I can't recall he chose me to be the benefactor of a new IBM computer. I never met this man or got the chance to say "thank you", but I'm saying it now because look at how far I have come. He's long since passed, but if you can hear me in heaven- Mr. Thompson, you are the reason that I became a writer.
I used this technology mainly for school projects and chatting online to friends, and I also used this computer to write my very first children's book, which to this day, remains unpublished. If you're curious, it is called "Your Money And Your Life". I still have it in a Dou-Tang report folder. My Grade 7 teacher Mrs. Pierce read it to the entire class and gave me recognition for it at Grade 7 graduation.
I've had many different computers since then, but all of them have one thing in common; I have always needed them to keep me connected to friends and family. For example, the one I'm using right now keeps me connected to my fellow writers, friends, and Elizabeth Lavis in New York. We have two writing sessions a week where we write this blog about anything and everything- and we laugh hysterically at this crazy thing called technology, when it works and when it doesn't work.
I Skype with family multiple times a day just to see what my folks are up to, and to make sure that they are doing OK since I'm not there to keep an eye on them.
Technology has definitely unlocked the doors to my life and opportunities I would never have imagined.