…but we need a millennial.

I don’t care if that millennial comes with an untucked shirt or those ridiculous skinny jeans or leggings that show way too much in public. I don’t care if they are rude about opening doors for women or look right through you as if your 50ish and older self does not exist. I don’t care if they only eat kale and drink green smoothies and mocha latte frappe whoppe hooies. I don’t even care if they overuse the words “like” and “absolutely” and “hey” instead of “hi.” In fact, I don’t even care if they have permanently superglued their cell phones to their hands.

Ugh.

Do you have any idea how many times we have had to call tech support in the last three months to figure out why our ONE tv is not working. Do you have any idea how many times I have had to call tech support to figure out why my computer is on the fritz. Do you have any idea how DUMB I feel when I am trying to research switching to DirecTV and have no clue which package is better or what some of the terms even mean. Between Hulu and Sling and Netflix and Vue and Amazon Prime and streaming this or that or Pandora or Rhapsody or Spotify or Apple or I heart whatever, I AM SO OVER THIS NEW WORLD.

I was a music teacher. I was supposed to be able to run a sound board/mixer/whatever that thing is called that is used to make microphones work. Amps and speakers and XLRs and receivers and huh?

Exactly.

I never learned that, and I am NOT about to begin learning this.

On top of all that, I have a new smart phone that makes me feel stupid.

So, I will get back to knowing what I know. Leave the tech confusion to those who have never used a rotary dial, have no clue what a 33 or 45 is, and never knew the glory days of console tvs.

I am grateful for stars in the sky and very few “city lights” to dim the view out here.

I am grateful for warm gloves on a brisk evening walk.

I am grateful for an entire evening of fun as we sat in the Mexican restaurant downtown and visited with our neighbor and town police officer sitting at the table next to us, which prompted a couple in another booth to join in the conversation and share that they almost bought our home, and in the meantime, we had the best time interacting with the employees who have become friends.

All of that makes me grateful for Esmerelda and Bennie and Maria and friendly neighbors and the town police officer who has lived here all of his life and shared some great stories and will become a friend, I just know.

I am grateful for millennials, I guess. Even though they drive me bat crazy, they make me even more grateful for my mom and my dad and millennials give me a MUCH GREATER APPRECIATION AND UNDERSTANDING for the headaches my parents had to have felt all the years I thought I knew everything.

And that leaves me grateful today for Mom and Dad and all the years they were married. Today is their 66th anniversary, and I will always remember this day and the memories of their 40th and their 50th and the stories of their wedding day in Wellsford.

Happy Anniversary, Dad. And Mom.

Thank you for not going bat crazy all those years I thought I knew more than you. And thank you for teaching me how to live a life filled with GRACE and PATIENCE. I don’t know who needs it more right now – tech support, the tv, the millennials, or me.