Space, The Final Frontier

Hardly a day goes by that Sam fails to impress me in one way or another.  He has always been very curious and is like a sponge when learning new things.

The other day he says, "Daddy, I'm bored."

My typical response, "Okay. Go find something to do."

Sam: "Like what?"

Me: "Play with Legos"

Sam: "I already did that."

Me: "Go play with your cars."

Sam: "Did that too. Can I play Wii?"

Me: "No. You've been on the computer or watching TV all morning. Go clean your room or read a book"

Sam: "I've already finished my reading. And I don't want to clean my room, that's no fun."

Me: "Go draw, but you will still need to clean your room."

Sam: "I'm going to make a book!"

Me: "Okay.  Have fun."

The next thing I know Sam is pulling out markers, paper, pencils, tape, glue, and every other craft supply he can get his hands on.

"Daddy, what can I write about?"

Me: "The current state of your room and how having a clean room can facilitate hours of fun since you can find all of your toys or Minimalism, how having less means having more?"

Sam: "DADDY! I'm serious."

Me: "I am too. Sort of."

Sam: "I am going to write about our Solar System."

Me: "Sounds good to me.  Don't forget to clean up your room and the mess you're making now."


So, Sam sat at the kitchen table. Surrounded by tons of art supplies, he started his book about the Solar System.  He worked on the book off and on all week. Friday morning he finished it right before time to catch the bus for school.

I think he did a very good job.

  

What are we losing?

Now don't get me wrong, I love technology. I would be lost with out my phone, laptop and digital cameras (5 at last count).

But what are we losing in this digital world?

The reason I ask this question is while the wife and I were cleaning our bonus room today she ran across "The Box". "The Box" is a small metal lock box that has been following us around since we were married. "The Box" contains letters/notes from when we were dating.

We sat in the floor of the closet and read many of the letters we wrote to each other almost twenty years ago. We laughed so hard we cried. It brought back many memories of days gone by. (Oh yeah, Honey, we need to get a better lock box. One that has a key. Before the kids find and read our letters!) Even in this digital age that we are living in I still occassionally send her a hand written letter.

If we were dating today would we've had these letters to read twenty years from now? Probably not since most communication these days is done via email, instant messaging, texting and tweeting.

I am thankful that both of us saved our letters.

Now I just need to make sure they stay out of little hands for another twenty years! And I probably should go write her another love letter...

When was the last time you wrote (not typed, tweeted or text'd) your loved one a letter?

Life

"Life is not a matter of milestones, but of moments." ~ Rose Kennedy