The Two Edged Sword

I am sitting alone in the man cave, listening to the ticking of a clock and Roy's snoring in the bedroom.

It's 7:15 am.

It's still dark outside, rain pouring down, and Savana has been gone an entire hour. She left this morning looking sleepy-eyed, laden down with bags, hustling out the door as I called for her to be careful on the mountain. But this time, I can't call her to make sure that she's okay. I can't check my phone a million times to see if she by chance sent a quick text, because...

...she dropped her phone in the toilet. And it no longer works.

So, it will be an interesting month.

In a month she will be eligible for an upgrade so that she can purchase a new phone and things can be back to normal. My goodness--how quickly we adjust to instant contact, constant knowledge of where our loved ones are at all times. And when we are stripped from that privilege? It feels so foreign, so...insecure.

Smart phones are relatively new inventions actually and yet we have quickly adjusted to them as though they are "old hat." Need directions? Need a recipe? Google it. Need to pass the time? Whip out a game or pull up Facebook. Walk into any room in America and check out our obsession with smart phones.

It's annoying, frankly.

And yet...

When you find yourself without one, or find one of your loved ones without one (in my case), well...that changes everything.

So as I am sitting here looking out the window into the darkness, I noticed my feet. And I can't help but think, What happened to my feet? They look so old, crinkly. They look like the feet of a middle-aged woman. And even though I paint my toenails and massage them regularly with lotion to keep them soft, well...age has set in. Time has left its mark. That same time that has given us new inventions of technology and brought gifts of wonder which we must learn to manage appropriately has also worked its magic on my body.

It's a two-edged sword.

So on the one hand, I love the gifts time bestows upon us: enjoying the inventions of those who understand how to create all these modern marvels. But on the other hand? I want it to slow down, stop robbing me of my youth.

And in the meantime, I am rooting for March 6 when Savana owns her new iPhone 5 and life as we know it can resume.