I grew up in a big family, with plenty of activities and things to do. You always had a playmate, a project, or a schedule to keep life full and alive. I only have ONE memory of watching TV in all of my upbringing, and it was when we would visit my grandmother. She would pull a TV outside on a little, rickety, wheeled cart and put it in front of her jacuzzi. She would then proceed to serve us ice cream sundays and leave us watching cartoons while soaking in the ultimate lap of luxury! I do remember for a brief time, we had a little TV that we would watch pre recorded shows on in black and white but that's all! We were NOT a technology family! We didn't need it!
My father was in the ARMY and we grew up touring the world. My parents invested in a luxury travel van that accommodated a large family driving all over Europe. Whenever dad was not working, we were going to see castles, or great landmarks, and sites. We also performed and that kept us busy with practices and music when we were not on the road. My sister still tells everyone we meet "we didn't know other people didn't live like this!" It was part of our everyday life and we filled every moment of our days with one or the other.
Technology didn't come to play in our lives until after my father retired from the ARMY and we started hitting our teenage years. One summer, a family friend loaned us a little video game console to keep us distracted during a move. That was the first interaction with anything like it! I remember it had the game Pitfall on it and I began to play through the levels rather quickly and easily.
I'm more of a memorizer than an explorer, and I would figure out what the fastest path THROUGH the game was, rather than spend time opening every level and seeing everything there was to see. I got through the game in time to have to return the console and get moved into our new home! That was it! It was a quick, fleeting moment and life moved on.
Fast forward to a decade later...I've married my childhood sweetheart, we're expecting our first child, and my six brothers are starting to hit high school and college years. My mom saw they were selling a PC (personal computer) on the military base. This could really help everyone with school projects and moving our family into the technology age. They also saw it as a great tool to help connect to the internet for use in family history and genealogy projects. The decision was made to go buy one. My husband, Jace, was instantly excited about this, as he was also in college and so TWO PC systems were purchased that day! This is when this vortex or porthole to another life opened up. This was the moment it all started. The beginning of the end. The pandora's box that cannot ever be rewound or returned. THIS is when it became a part of my life...and there was no going back.
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