Kind of like an emotional breakthrough, only not.
So, you’ve figured out by now that I’m a worrier.
Yeah, I know, it’s just what I do. Yes, Mark, don’t forget, I am one of you, by proxy.
Anyway, tonight I was at my father’s house, and, he seemed very quiet, as he has the past few times I’ve seen him. We were sitting in the den, and, I noticed him rubbing his eyes, they were very red, and, then kind of staring into space.
I thought to myself, “Self, you can’t ignore this, even if you know he’s not going to tell you anything.”
Me: “So. Whatcha thinking about?”
My father: (long pause), “S-”…
Me: (to myself) “Oh, crap, here it comes (my mother’s first name began with an “S”), how do I handle this?”
My father: “Smart Boards.”
Yep. Smart Boards.
He’s a teacher, and, will be getting one in his classroom, and, he’s concerned because he missed some of the training.
At least you asked. Now you know it wasn’t as earth shattering as you thought it was.
I have one of those, I was so excited on starting my new job. A week into classes I disconnected the damn thing, hooked the projector up to my laptop and displayed my screen that way
It never did what I wanted it to do – maybe because I missed all the training?
E.,
Tell him to start slow. Smart Boards will do all sorts of wonderful things, but you don’t have to use all the features to make it an effective tool. And if it any consolation, there are Phd’s on a campus near and dear to me who have been brought to tears by these things.
I don’t have to tell you, you already know: men are different animals. I think you are handling this absolutely perfectly. Almost like you would with a teenager: be close and available, but not too close.
As an aside, I’ve just got to tell you how much this site means to me. I am obviously not the worrier in my family (that title belongs to my older brother Marvin), but with each passing year the sandwich closes in on me. My parents are at that awkward age where they don’t want to retire, but nobody will hire them because they’re so close to retirement.
They are 63 and 60. My kids are 9 and 10 . In about 6 or 7 years, it’s going to get pretty dicey.
You just don’t know how important is is to me to know that there are others out there facing what I’m facing, others who have gone before me and can bring back news from the front.
I just wanted to thank you.
Smart Boards my @ss. This is one of those, “I am a man and don’t want to be a burden” things.
(Of course I could be wrong. Good gravy, I’ve done it enough before.)
Gotcha