Help From My Friends

I pulled out my computer on Saturday afternoon, set it down on our dining room table with the intention of completing a couple of tasks on the website and Ezine. My husband was away so I thought I could slip a couple of hours of work into my weekend – while my two younger children, who were also at the table, watched TV and ate potato chips. My oldest, Number 1, which is what my husband jokingly calls her, was working and Number 2 was getting ready to leave to go to work. And then it happened.

Watching Number 3 knock over the glass of water upset me, you see she had done the exact same thing the day before, knocked over a 16 ounce glass of water. As the water rushed across the table my parenting voice kicked in, not believing that she had done the same thing two days in a row. So we cleaned it up. I was just annoyed, until I realized not only had the water flowed across the table, but it flowed right into my Macbook. Sigh.

As I looked at my youngest daughter’s face, across the table from me, I knew in that very moment yelling at her would do nothing. I made a few comments, but kept my language and tone in check. I picked the computer up, with water dripping from it and rushed to get the battery pack out of it – I don’t know why, I just needed to do that. And as I took the battery out of the computer water also dripped out of the battery compartment. There I was with no older children, no husband, just me, my wet computer and two little kids.

I don’t know what I was thinking – but I knew this, yelling, screaming, ranting and raving was not going to solve anything – no matter how much I wanted to do it, it was not the solution. I called Apple and they gave me hope – as long as it was just water I should be okay. Their advice: let the computer dry out for 48 hours to one week – which I didn’t really have time to do, but that was my only option at that point. I also phoned my friend Lisa who was a great support – it will be fine she told me. She would know – she is one of Apple’s best customers.

I spent Saturday evening making dinner for the kids, put the younger two to bed and watched a movie. On Sunday morning panic hit. I had tried to start the computer and nothing happened.

Reality was such, that it might be the end of my Macbook and me. My mind filled with fearful thoughts, like what if I couldn’t finish uploading the stories to the website, what if I couldn’t lay out the Ezine and send it out on time. The thoughts kept going on and on and on and I found myself getting angry again – fear had set in.

Wanting to yell at somebody, I did the only rational thing I knew, I phoned a friend. I called Jill, who was amazed at how calm I sounded considering the circumstances.

Having the support of friends has been key for me to live this lifestyle – I don’t know what I would do without them. They are what an air force member would call wingman or a soldier would call a fire-team partner. They are one of my greatest assets when my spouse is away. They are the ones that keep me sane when insane moments or circumstances happen.

Jill and I talked for a while, and we came up with a solution. On the off chance my computer never turned on again I could order a new one through the Canex and pay for it using the monthly payment plan. I need to be clear, I couldn’t afford to do that, but it was an option. I knew Lisa had purchased her Mac through them, so I quickly phoned her and confirmed that, yes if my computer did not ever boot up again, I would be okay. I would have to find another part-time job to purchase the new computer, but I had a solution and with that my mind stopped thinking fearful thoughts.

Number 3 and I spent Sunday afternoon in the kitchen with her Minipops CD blaring while we baked peanut butter cookies, sugar cookies and banana muffins. That evening all the kids and I sat in the family room, ate nachos and watched The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. And late Sunday evening I plugged my computer in and it turned on.

I love my Mac. But, I love my friends more. Thank you ladies.