Right now I’m feeling a great sense of relief and accomplishment!

We’ve been having problems with our bandwidth usage for months now, with some device siphoning  off our daily allowance.

It’s an intermittent problem and one I haven’t been able to pinpoint the cause.

Earlier this week I followed the advice of a quick Google search and reset my router.

The tortoise says Do what you LOVE

What I didn’t realize until today is that it didn’t disable the router as I thought it would but only reset the factory settings.

During the process of trying to reinstall the router, I somehow changed the settings on my computer, the master unit on the network.

Graduation, the project graduation event, and the graduation party were all behind us and I had been looking forward to spending some quiet time with my mom.

Instead, I found myself at my desk for the second day in a row, with another hour behind me and countless hours ahead of me.

I remembered my friend telling me how she asks the angels for help, so I asked my angel, who recently told me her name was Beatrice, to guide me in the right direction.

Shortly thereafter I discovered I’d disabled my computer’s network capabilities.

Well, now, let’s just say that’s not exactly the kind of help I’d hoped for.

I cursed under my breath and felt my blood pressure rise with the mounting frustration.

The red-throated hummingbird that alights atop my feeder post and watches me through the glass before dropping down to feed suddenly appeared.

Your mom is only here for a few more days. Just how important is having internet access?

As valuable as technology can be, one of the greatest laments for too many of us is how disconnected we are when we are connected.

Their are memes and images everywhere that show groups of people together, yet the only thing they are interacting with are their phones.

Though I often use mine to find the answers to “Who sings this song?” or share funny things with when I am with others, I am also plenty guilty of getting engrossed in a game of Words with Friends who aren’t there in the flesh or just spending a few time-warped minutes trying to beat the next Candy Crush level.

I happened to log on to Facebook in time to notice Liz Gilbert’s post about traveling through Greece–she’s sailing, actually, lucky gal–with her hubby and giving herself the first social media break since 2004 (if memory serves me right.)

It’s so easy to become swept up in it all, isn’t it, Journeyer?

A carpenter’s router is used to shape items and a computer router is used to move date from one place to another.

It has oft been said that the writer’s life can be one of isolation, with hours upon hours spent with our muse, our pens and paper, and now the many electronic gadgets we need to create our work and to get it out into the digital world.

Though I love this work I do, I do prefer the warmth of another human over that which comes with my laptop sitting on my legs.

Walking away from my computer might have been a good step toward re-routering my priorities and spending more time doing what I love by moving my relationships with friends and family forward…

And, yes, as you probably surmised by now, I sat down at my desk this morning, with a clear and guilt-free mind, restored my computer to last Monday’s settings AND I quickly found a way to not only change my router’s passwords, but to identify which devices are logged into my system.

Now I’m going to pay the bills that have to be paid today and then head out to connect with a friend.

Poolside.

As this week closes and we enter the holiday weekend, I’d like to wish everyone safe celebrations and travels and to thank all of our past, present, and future Service Men and Women, for their commitment to country is what enables us to continue our pursuit of happiness in the Land of the Free.

Until we meet again, yours in hope, healing, and happiness,