The reason I’m here in Berkeley is for Mom’s birthday. My sister and I bought Mom a new laptop and are helping her ease up the onramp of the Information Superhighway. She’s been taking classes in emailing, surfing the ‘net, and using Word, and now she’s ready to fly solo on her very own computer. A proud moment for all of us.

My sister flew up from L.A. with her husband, and Mike and I flew out from OK, converging at Mom’s house. We were just going to open the boxes, plug everything in, and boot ‘er up. Get Mom comfortable, show her some useful things, get her googling like a pro. But first, we had to clear a space. Mom is an artist and writer, and like her daughter, a packrat. Every square inch of her tiny house is filled with Stuff, lots of Stuff. We had to tackle the Stuff before we did anything else.

Boxes of Stuff went out to her little storage shed. Furniture was moved or removed. We went to Office Depot and bought file folders, clear plastic boxes, a rolling file cabinet, labels. We found places to put things where she can find them again. It was a total overhaul.

Somehow underneath it all we found a nice hardwood floor and swept it clean. A window now lets in light. She has a computer station in one corner and an art station with a drawing table in another. Now she can get down to work.
A shiny new start for Mom and her new computer. What joy. Boy, do I know the feeling. And, Mom–welcome to a fabulous, whole new world-Happy Birthday- have yourself a blast!