When IS Too Much, Too Much?

January 15th, 2012

Resetting the Compass – Day 15

Sunday afternoon, enjoying the four “F words” – family, food, football, and fire. All four of us, each in our respective chairs, grouped around the TV and, at the same time engaged in our iThings. I put my iThing down and picked up my big, thick Sunday paper. I was enjoying a weekly column by a cape naturalist and came across a beautifully written line:

“At dusk, I find myself sitting on the rocks of jetties or overturned wooden benches, repositioned by wind and tidal surges, taking in the sights of the Sound, the striation of the sunset, the blessing of the bay.”

Being a writer, I love words and constantly seek out books that add to my collection of new and unusual ones. In this sentence I was drawn to the word “striation”. Although I gleaned the meaning from the context, I wanted to see the exact meaning and record the word in my collection. So….I reached down and put my finger on the word. Imagine my surprise when it didn’t highlight and bring up the definition.

I started laughing and told my family what I just did. My daughter says, “Uh…too much time on your phone?”

“What? Look around this room! I’m the ONLY one holding real paper!”

The compass needle points to our unconscious adaption to a changing world – is this good? Should we be more aware? Or does this just rate right up there with how I wait for commercials to go to the bathroom when watching shows I’ve DVR’d, (Yes, I still find myself doing that), and provide another chance for me to laugh at myself?

And so, as another day goes by, I’ll go with raising my awareness of change and maybe, just maybe, laugh more in 2012, and ….I have written.