Not long ago, Lynn Mosher sent me an invitation to join her on Facebook, which I would’ve readily accepted, but didn’t know how. I tried. I clicked in and went through some of the sign up procedure–then my brain suddenly reverted to the mind of a 19th century farm wife. I simply could not figure out what to do. So what was left of my 21st century brain screamed: “Abort! Abort! Abort!”

And I did.

More recently, Katie Weiland sent me an invitation. This time, I was armed. Instant messaging! I used to have it a long time ago, then it disappeared somehow. I don’t know why or how, but this feature suddenly returned to my mail room. It’s great–the next best thing to actually hearing someone’s voice. But so much is lost when you can’t hear the tone of someone’s voice.

I typed: how do you do this?

Katie typed: like this . . .

I typed: okay–gotcha.

Sure, when you’re reading it, I seem lucid enough. Comfortable at the keyboard, able to follow simple instructions. Right?

But let me show you how it would sound over the phone:

Me: How do you do this?

My tone: Oh my word! That wasn’t supposed to happen! What did I just do??? Can I undo it? I HATE this thing! How do I get back to where I was? ACK!

Me: Wait. I think I’ve figured this out.

My tone: Yeah, right. I can hear the farm calling me now.

Me: Yeah, yeah. It’s working now . . .

My tone: WHEW!

Anyway, I’m on facebook now, as you can tell by the little duber on the right. Next stop, I guess, will be Twitter. I should see what all the tweetin’ is about. But first, I gotta rest!