What Would I Do Without Him?

Several weeks ago I was at home working and I needed to print something, only my wireless printer would not talk to my computer in the next room. Because I am a stubborn person, I tried and tried to figure out what the problem was.

I consulted Mr. Google, the printer’s brand website and a myriad of question and answer threads – anything that came up related to printers and how to make them converse with my Mac. I texted a friend who might be able to help but they were unavailable. I was alone in my no-printing woes and deep in blank paper that sat lonely next to my ready-but-not-willing equipment.

See, my tech prowess is fairly null when it comes to connecting technology but I can use it juuuust fine, once everything is set up for me.  Nowadays I no longer have built-in tech support around here so I was seriously considering calling the Geek Squad (and probably still will for some other needs). It’s times like these when we must realize our own limitations, that we cannot be good at everything and sometimes we just have to call in a professional geek.  Because my brain just does not work that way and it can be crazy frustrating sometimes.

So, let’s fast forward to last night… my 12 year-old son is working on finishing his last project for the school year.  I’m nervous about him saying that he needs to print something for his poster board because well, I have not printed anything in over a month. I was a tad at ease since I knew if he became truly desperate (which I assumed he would), he would be able to print it at school in the morning.

Next thing I know I hear this from my office – “Mom, I got it to print,” and low and behold, my 41 year-old ears did not fail me, I heard the damn thing printing.

I run into the room, breathless even though I only went 5 feet, “How… What… Who… When…?”

“Mom, the printer wasn’t selected, that’s all.”

I couldn’t even believe what he had just said. I was exasperated beyond belief. I had spent hours trying to figure this shit it out and that was the sentence that came out of his mouth. “It wasn’t selected.”

Of course I was not upset with him, I was elated that he was able to print what he needed, however I was truly dumbfounded.

I mean, in my trial and error and searching and troubleshooting it never came down to just “selecting” it – there were various networks to navigate and a router to contend with and all kinds of technical verbiage that made little sense to me. And here it was, all the while, just wanting to be “selected”.

I wracked my brain, figuring that perhaps taking my laptop away from this hostile environment (while at Mom 2.0) may have set things back up automatically upon my return home. Yeah… I’m going with that.

However, maybe it just came down to this, K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) and so I did – I kissed that kid on the forehead and told him he was the best 12 year-old in the whole wide world and asked him what I would do without him. To which he replied…

“I’m not sure mom, but you probably would never print anything ever again.”

Touche.