crash!

It was terrifying.... the call came as I was driving with my two girls.... we never saw it coming.... my wife called, and the computer STOPPED! The panic was clear in her voice when she relayed the words over the phone. She told how she tried to do a simple disk clean-up, and upon rebooting the computer, it wouldn't start! NO! Say it isn't so. Tell me anything except that. The fear rumbled through the very core of my soul!
Although some of the emotions may be a little exaggerated for effect, they're not really too far off. We found ourselves living in the mid-20th century. No way to contact our friends, do our banking or determine whether the low pressure zone that was predicted for St. Louis would really bring the heavy showers that weather.com had fortold would douse our Father's Day plans. It's amazing when you think about it - how absolutely dependent we have become on things such as the internet for our day-to-day survival.
The rest of our weekend was kind of intriguing. Both my wife and I found ourselves calling friends that we usually e-mailed and we found ourselves without the excuse we always had to just sneak in and do a quick "surf".
Somehow, our lives became slightly easier this weekend. Slowly (and we're still getting there), we began to live without immediate access to everyone and everything. It's starting to become a little freeing actually. I came into work today, fully expecting to accomplish nothing since I figured I would need that "internet fix" that I hadn't had all weekend. Although I did spend a little time surfing, I realized that I was OK. I wasn't going to fall off the edge of the planet if I didn't know the up-to-the-minute status of multi-lateral negotiations with North Korea, China and Japan. Somehow, my day would go on, and somehow, I might even find time for the more important things - my wife, my children, myself and (gasp) a relationship with Christ.
Will it continue once my wife has the new hard drive installed? Who knows, but it's definitely worth posting about - then maybe, I'll think about it more often and be driven to the alter of something other than Microsoft!