Due to technical difficulties I have been sans internet for an extended period of time. I was suffering from blogger withdrawal. I had no lack of thoughts to share, as I am seldom without words, but no effective way to share them. It was during this time I realized just how quickly one can become addicted or form a habit. My mornings where in a turmoil. What to do ? I stared at a blank screen. I stared at old photos on the screen. I reviewed documents in the documents folder. Eventually I resorted to playing an old game I had installed several years ago. A computer without access to the information superhighway is a dead end ! Boring. There is no doubt the modern laptop is an engineering marvel. A mysterious array of chips and printed circuits capable of tremendous feats of calculations but virtually useless without a connection to the outside world.
So with a great sigh of relief I got reconnected today. So much to catch up on. Blogs to read and blogs to write. A few games to catch up with. Words with friends is quite addicting. What has transpired in cyberspace since my absence ? The world of Facebook awaits. It is good to be back !
One thing came to the forefront during this time. I received a gift of some old photographs from a dear family friend. These were mailed to me. Although this lady is on Facebook I decided I would write her a letter in thanks. Being an older lady I was sure she would appreciate the gesture. It was then I realized I had no stationary. No problem, I’ll pick some up the next time I am out. Turns out stationary isn’t that easy to find. In fact I got this connection back and still haven’t located any stationary. I will admit to not doing an extensive search for it. I sure wish Greensboro had a stationary store.
I mentioned this dilemma while at work. My co workers are mostly younger folks. Several didn’t know what stationary was without some prodding. A few thought their Mom or Grandmother probably had some. I told them of stationary stores and they wanted to know what they sold there. I compared them to Staples. They understood that alright. It was at a stationary store, James Marley’s to be exact, that I purchased my first pocket calculator. A computer. Would Marley’s be selling laptops and such now ? I guess so. I remember thinking felt tip pens were pretty cool things. I asked about fountain pens too but they had no knowledge of them at all. I wonder do they still teach letter writing in school ? English wasn’t my best subject but I seem to recall that class.
I guess it just another thing of the past. I haven’t had the need for any stationary in all these years. Most times I just jot a note inside a greeting card of fold up a piece of printer paper. Progress ? But how uncivilized ! I’ll be on the lookout for some stationary just in case the need arises again.