DMB Digest: The Day the Internet Died
And I pooed my pants.
First off, I need to share my latest revelation: junk food provides wonderful nicknames. One of my favorite snacks turns out to be a wonderful self-describer: Spicy Lone Star Trash. Then, last night at the drive through, I found a new nickname for the Wife: Saucy Nugs. (Bonus points if you guess the establishment.)
With that out of the way, allow me to continue with the main gist of this missive; the morning after Christmas, my parents’ house was struck by lightning while most of us were still in bed. This is both as dramatic as it sounds and not nearly as dramatic as it sounds at the same time. In the dramatic column, it scared the poo poo out of me. Thunder is loud. Real loud. And being shocked straight up and out of bed is a real thing.
Of course the first thing I did after shooting out of bed was check the status of my iPad. Luckily, it survived the strike despite the fact I had been silly enough to leave it plugged in before falling asleep the night before. After that, I checked on the other people in the house.
In the not as dramatic as it sounds category, my parents live in the Texas Hill Country. Every house in the area has been struck by lightning at least once. It’s not quite as common as eating lightning for breakfast, but it’s pretty common. Common enough my parents have full-house lightning protection built in. As a result, a few breakers were flipped, the Christmas lights got fried, the heat pump took a hit, and the internet died. That was it.
It turned out the internet dish for the satellite connection was the highest point on the roof, and thereby received the brunt of the electrical chaos of the strike. After restarting the modem and the router a couple of times with no results, the reality settled in for both teens and adults. There would be no internet for at least a couple of days.
Stop and think about that. These days, no internet means no television. In many cases, video games won’t work either. No cloud connection. No school work. And we’re on vacation…in the middle of nowhere Texas. No busy work schedule to save you. Outside? It’s cold and raining. For me and my family, that day, December 26th 2024, was the day the internet died.
To be fair, my kids did pretty well. They sucked it up and soldiered on. And by Saturday night (the 28th) at 10:00pm, the internet was back up and running (after two 108 minute round trips to the nearest Best Buy). But we were unplugged long enough for me to think about my routines. How much of my day is dedicated simply to killing time? Doing stuff to get from one part of my day to the next? Granted, vacation schedule is different from everyday routine. I get that.
But the internet makes thoughtless living so much easier. So much more passive. All of my time-sucking crutches are connected to the internet. Without them, I was forced to engage thoughtfully with my surroundings. The sample window of time was short, but it was enough to make me think. The moment is all we have. Embracing each moment, no matter how banal, is so much more fulfilling than surfing through the boring stuff to get to the next brilliant gem.
During the last full day with my parents, I found myself sitting in the backseat of their car sipping on some quality iced tea. We were riding home together (another 108 minute round trip) after having dropped the truck off for unscheduled maintenance and snagging another round of antibiotics from the pharmacy. (Neither activity being things that engender excitement.)
It was by no means a remarkable moment. But it was my moment, and I was spending it with both my parents. Both of which are still alive. Both of which have expressed their love for me throughout my life. And for both I am grateful. I’m glad to say I embraced that moment, and as a result it will forever stick in my memory. Obviously, I don’t have enough memory to lodge every moment in there permanently. That’s not the point. I think the point is to work a bit harder at actively engaging with each of the moments as they come. Hopefully, remembering the day the internet died will help me in this endeavor.
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