Will we have to relearn how to write with a pen?

I wonder if by the turn of the century (or probably before that time), we'll all be needing to relearn the fast disappearing ability to write with a pen--on paper (the use of paper is vanishing as well! Most companies try to avoid a paper trail. It's now an email trail or electronic trail). Everything in our homes and schools and offices today are 99% manipulated by a button or a series of buttons or a set of keys on a keyboard or keypad! Yeah, pens and pencils can still be found in offices and schools. But mostly in schools, and in the much much lower grade levels. Even middle school kids now use netbooks, not to mention the new definition for notebook--this one isn't made of paper.


Think about it. Most of us work with computers. If it's not with our job, it's at home or in school or all three. We use our thumbs to punch in messages on our cellphones and we use a stylus to push virtual buttons or keys (again!) on the smooth surface of a smartphone screen or PC tablet. Please be reminded that using a stylus is not equal to writing. 


Of course there will probably be some remnant people who will hold on to their skill in wielding a pen or pencil or crayon or any writing instrument that is gripped to write and not punched. People who love the smell of paper and deem as music the faint sound of a nib brushing against a surface, producing lovely lovely script or hasty scribblings or harsh jottings.


But by that time, I'm guessing this remnant pen writers will be labelled eccentric and there might even be an underground movement. Then again, my imagination just might be running away with me again.


Still, I'm one of those who love the scent of fresh, smooth, blank sheets of a journal. And writing my thoughts on them with a scented pen. I love journaling. I even advocate it. I used to do it A LOT! But honestly, these days, the thought of nailing my fast forward thoughts on paper with a pen just seems slow. I worry that those bright ideas might take flight before I can capture them with pen on paper. So, unabashedly, I turn to my PC keyboard to reel in and preserve those thoughts forever on a virtual space where either everyone or no one can read them.


But upon contemplation, I wouldn't want to lose my ability to write using a ballpoint pen or pencil. So I guess I'll just have to practice it--on my journaling. It will help keep me still and meditative as I pace my thoughts with my hands. And who knows, I might be considered as one of the eccentrics while the rest of the world relearns the art of writing with a pen.

To My Soul Sister

It's my maiden post...well, on this blog at least...and I'm dedicating it to my Soul Sister (you know who you are woman!) who so animatedly encouraged me to create a blog here and write about stuff in my sphere.

Haha...dear woman. You probably have this supermom caricature of me in your head where I seem to have a handle on just about everything--my kitchen, my laundry, my kids, my husband, my ministry. Well, I hate to mar the quaint picture of success but the truth is, my real situation is not exactly how you might have it in your mind's eye.

That's why I'm glad we have our annual "catching-up-on-each-other" meetings in some mall or restaurant and not at my house (as much as I would love to have you come over and visit). You might be in for a really really big surprise. I have laundry that's close to Mt. Everest in height. The bathroom needs a facelift, the windows will appreciate a good scrubbing, some polishing will make the floor smile, my kids in Sunday School will be much happier if I got more organized with the Sunday activities, my real kids would be ecstatic if I just stuck to the 15-minute principle of time together, and my husband would probably shout "hallelujah" if I actually initiated intimate relations. Whew!

Well, soul sister...how's your picture of me now? Doing some updating? hehe...But God knows how hard I try to get my act to together. It is quite a feat though to be switching hats most of the time. And I keep telling myself: "I can do this. I can do this." What else is Philippians 4:13 for, right?

But some days woman, it really gets to me--this mommyhood thing. It's so so so much different from how I pictured it to be and planned it to be. Although I don't regret quitting my office job, the supermom picture I had in mind is harshly different from reality. Yes, reality bites. But then again, when one of my little ones gives me a mega sweet angelic smile matched with open arms closing in on me for a hug...reality's bite just doesn't matter anymore.