First of all, I'd like to take a moment to pat myself on the back for keeping up with my lifelong tradition of abandoning any writing project I start for months at a time. Yes, good job me. I said I wouldn't with my blog, but I did it anyway. Woot.
Now that the formalities are out of the way, I will attempt to justify and excuse my absence and delinquency to writing by telling you the story of what happened shortly after I stopped writing due to apathy and a lot of outer circumstances.
Once upon a time (about 7 months ago), we took a trip to India. I brought my computer, thinking of the convenience, and how much writing I could (not) get done. It also happened to have Baby Signing Time (TM?) stored on it, which was a major plus. One fine day, a few weeks into our trip, I began to feel a craving for some good ole' American food, so I went to the newly opened Subway restaurant in the heart of Punjab (renowned for its delicious Indian cuisine) and ordered a foot long cheese sandwich. Perhaps some of you know what it is like to tire of the local fare, no matter how delicious it is. It is just something that happens after one spends enough time abroad, and it must be dealt with or it will turn into some sort of doughnut obsession (more on that coming soon). Aaannyway, I opted to bring my slice of home, home with me to covet and enjoy rapturously alone in my room and then put my daughter to sleep for her nap. I will regret that poor choice possibly for years to come.
Of course by the time I arrived back home, my dear little one was prime for her nap and as I brought her upstairs, I decided to let her watch her Signing Time whilst I indulged in my sandwich. I reasoned that another 5 to 10 minutes of wakefulness wouldn't hurt, and that I could avoid letting my sandwich get soggy while I laid with her for an hour and a half trying to get her to roll over and let me go.
So I turned on my laptop, set it on our flat topped laundry bucket (about 2.5 feet off the floor), and switched on an episode of her favorite show. I then turned my attention to satisfying my hunger and enjoying cheese sandwichy bliss- I had turned away for a mere split second, when I saw out of the corner of my eye my daughter reach for the computer. I told her not to touch the keyboard, and out of spite she slapped it and it fell- seemingly in slow motion and hit the floor on its side, still playing. I had lunged out to try and catch it but was too late. My very expensive piece of technology now lay on its side, screen twitching and displaying a worrying sequence of red lines, all the while making a clicking sound like a broken record. DOOM! DOOM! DOOOOOOOOM!!!
And all for a sandwich.
The emotions welled up like a flash flood- anger, rage, exasperation, self-loathing, despair, self-pity, incredulity, shock- I knew it was all my fault, and I could not, and did not turn my slew of moods on my child. She knew not what she had done.
I had hope- a glimmer of hope that all was not lost.
I tried closing the program. No response. I force-quit, and opened iPhoto, I perused my photographs (possibly for the last time). It seemed to do O.K. but something wasn't right. I finally had to force-quit everything, and then shut it down, for good. My hard drive had crashed. It was the end. Everything was gone- evaporated like the morning dew on a hot sunny day.
Alas, you think to yourself- all was not lost, for surely I had backed up my data onto a hard drive of some sort?
Almost. Procrastination had gotten the better of me. Let me leave it at that, for it is still a sore subject. Pictures of our daughter's first day in this world (cruel as it can be), pictures of our dog which had recently passed away, home footage of our daughter's first steps... all lost...
Kick myself? Oh, you can believe I did. After I was done wallowing in self pity and crying for half an hour. Yes. I am that much of a dork, I cried over a broken hard drive. But who wouldn't in this day and age? So much of our lives is stored digitally, we almost don't have to remember things anymore. It's a precarious path to walk.
Convenience = Eventual Devastation.
After a few days, when I was able to think rationally, my husband took me to have my computer checked out. Luckily* it was only the hard drive, and once replaced, I would be able to use my computer again. Months later, we returned from India and I was able to re-install my operating system and begin using my computer. Pictures backlogged on my phone from months of travel finally had a destination. This time, I backed everything up. The first day.
Since this whole experience befell me (through stupid moves of my own doing) I have become somewhat of an advocate for data backup, and I would like to think that I have made a difference in the lives of others (mom, dad) in saving them from a terrible, similar fate.
So, that is the long excuse, or at least part of it, for why I abandoned my blog for nearly half a year. I hope to thwart myself and keep on writing- at least for a while this time.
And the moral of the story is: Never let a tasty sandwich take priority over nap time, or the safety of your electronics. Even if you are afraid it will get soggy.
It's a tragic and expensive lesson.
Back again,
~Momrit
*Alas, it really could have been worse, if one can imagine such a thing.
