Go Ahead, Press the Button

My two sons just gave me a wonderful gift for my birthday. They got me a Kindle. I opened it’s cutting edge packaging and looked up at my techie boys with a look of gratitude and fear on my face. Gratitude, because my sons know how much I love to read and it was a very thoughtful gift. Fear, because I have no idea how to use it. So, I ask them, do I download books just like I download songs onto my iPod? I have finally figured out how to go to iTunes and get my favorite music onto my device. My son replies, "sort of, only this is easier."

Ah… there’s hope!

So, the brown Kindle box sat on my desk for days, intimidating me with it’s cold powerless stare, like the zombies in 'Night of the Living Dead.' Could I turn an electronic page in my life, when I am so used to paper? I love the coarse comfort of ancient papyrus held between my fingers while a story grips my heart.  

However, I really wanted to learn how to use this device since it would help me pack lighter when traveling. I read the instructions and figured out that it needed to be charged first. 'I can do that!' I said to myself. I plugged it in, and waited a day… putting off the intimidation for a while.

I wondered, where does this fear come from? And suddenly I remembered back in time, back to being a child in the ‘60’s. Ah! The Buttons! Our generation was taught that pushing a button could send off an atomic bomb and begin a war. One push of the button and there would be mushroom clouds covering entire villages. We were taught to never push the buttons, fear the buttons. Don’t go near the destructive buttons! We huddled beneath our desks and sat cross legged in elementary school hallways anticipating such a disaster.

So I charge it and I’m ready to go, I stare at it like a young mother bringing home her firstborn child with no idea how to tend to it. I begin pressing those buttons, taking chances like Tommy in the Pinball Wizard. Nothing blows up. Europe is still standing. I run into some dead ends and figure out how to go back. Buttons that forgive, I like that!

I figure out how to download a novel and it’s there on my Kindle immediately. It was simple and I did it myself!

My son comes to me to see how I am doing, and his face lights up with pride when he realizes that I have downloaded my first book. He puts his arm around me and tells me I am doing fine, I am going to make it in the electronic world of reading. I still miss the smell of a crisp new book, ink on paper, the old fashioned way.