the road not taken

reflections

I've been busy lately.

Not just with Savannah, or around the house but, working on my website here. I've made myself busy, trying to get things updated. It's not totally finished, but the majority is, so... I present to all of you who haven't peeked at my site lately, my brand new, and completely original design of the moon, the stars and everything else...

I'm terribly proud of the redesign, and Wallace was so sweet to dream up something I love so much, and work so hard at making it just right for me. Thank you sweetie.

. . . . .

While I've been waist-deep in my redesign, I've been doing a lot of thinking... Of how I got here. Here on the computer, here making websites, here on the internet...

If any of you have been nosy enough to have read some of my other pages, you might have an idea how I got here. But I have only one person to thank for getting me here, and only one other for keeping me here.
'Sted got me on the internet. I watched her chat with people online way before most people ever heard of AOHell or www.biteme.com or before I had the slightest clue what a homepage was.

She told me how to get an email account, through Edinboro University and so then I could chat with all these different people too. So, I did. And after about five minutes, I was hopelessly hooked... and I had met my future husband.

I owe my eternal thanks to 'Sted for getting me on the computer at that time and at that place. I wouldn't be married to Wallace now, if not for 'Sted logging me into Qwest on 16 February, 1994... or have Savannah, or be in Atlanta, or a whole lot of other things, I expect.

What a wildly long and bizarre and wonderful road it's been to finally be here.

. . . . .

Wallace's love of computers and the internet got me here. I don't know how or where he learned HTML, but he was kind enough to teach me. And he always helps me when I need it.

When Wallace and I first met, he thought he wanted to be a lawyer when he grew up... He hasn't quite grown up yet, but he does get paid to play on the computer all day. He designs websites and graphics, and does a wonderful job at it. And he loves what he does. I'm so glad that he loves it, since I think he's quite fabulous at it.

We managed to live without a computer for about a year, when we were first together. We used to drive thirty miles each way to sneak into the computer labs at Penn State to get online. We got a computer, for free, from someone Wallace knew at work at the time... We still use that same computer. It's shitty, but it does what it needs to. And we can't afford another one just now.

. . . . .

Before I met 'Sted or Wallace, I knew very little about computers and nothing at all about being online. I still like to pretend that I don't know anything, but I fear I might be turning into one of those 'computer geeks' I've heard about. I'm trying to be as cool a geek as I can be.

I'm glad to be online, and use email and surf the Net. I'm glad to have a chance to chat with people from all over the world via ICQ. And even more so, I'm glad that I can use the Net to keep me close to people who aren't as physically close as I might like them to be.

. . . . .

When I finally admitted to my parents that I had met Wallace over the computer, they thought I was completely insane... My mother just told me the other day, that they will probably be getting a computer at home, so they can be online too.

Posted by lara at July 27, 1999 05:48 PM