I decided I wanted to get a computer. I did.
Anyone remember the T1000? I thought I was the
coolest thing because I could track my grocery
coupons. How far we've come since then!
I decided it was time for a new computer when
my sister ordered one some years later. I had
such fun with that machine at her house,
although if you asked me now exactly what I used
to do on it I couldn't tell you. I do remember
it was very pre windows and she would print out
pages of address labels for me so I could get
through my bills quicker. (It should be noted that
all this happened before I had children and
actually had enough money to pay those bills.)
Well, I didn't end up getting one until many
years later. (It should also be noted that during
this time I managed to accumulate 4 children, lots
of bills and absolutely no extra money.) What I
did manage to do was get an insurance settlement,
decided that 10% was for me and the very first
thing I did with it was buy a Dell 486-33SX, the
best of the time. I still have it although it is
now living it's life as a home for dust bunnies in
the corner of my bedroom.
One of the employees at the store where I
bought it came to my house one afternoon, you
know how computer people are.. and introduced me
to a totally new world by showing me that the
modem actually had a function. He dialed into a
BBS. Whoa! I was done. On the exit screens of
most of them there were phone numbers to other
BBS's....
We had a second phone line installed.
Somewhere along the line I discovered that I
could talk to people other than those that called
into that particular board. Lots of other
people. The problem was, most of the BBS's had
time limits unless you were a friend of the person
running it and even then I'd feel guilty if I
spent more than an hour or so online because I
didn't want to chew into anyone elses time.
I started my own BBS and got a Fidonet node.
At first I was only getting echoes located in my
home state, which was actually pretty boring since
it was a bunch of guys talking about stuff I had
absolutely no interest in. Remember, I didn't
have much in the way of extra money, and it took
a lot of begging just to get the second line in,
never mind paying to get echoes in.
I discovered that there were a lot of echoes
that I would definitely be interested in one night
at a friends house, and he knew someone that
would forward them to me for free. Well, who could
turn that down? Certainly not me.
I discovered the cooking echoes.
I discovered offline mail.
I had discoverd a new source for my addiction.
I have been an avid recipe collector for many,
many years. I can remember, and this is honest
truth, being in the hospital with stomach
problems and having my husband bring me index
cards and pencils so I could copy the recipes from
the magazines in the waiting rooms. (I ended up
having my gallbladder removed after about 8 of
these 2 week hospital stays so that ended that.)
My family no longer had a doting wife and
mother. They now had a woman with a cause. I
decided that since so many of these other people
enjoyed recipes as much as I did, I needed to
share as many of mine as possible with as many as
possible. I haven't lost that feeling. As a
matter of fact, I haven't lost anything at all,
I've gained in more ways than you could possible
imagine.
In my time online, I have made many friends.
Some of them stand out more than others and
there are several that I've kept in very close
touch with (Hi Paul, Flo, Serge, Dan, Gail & Dail,
Neysa, Katherine, {who am I forgetting?}, Sharon,
April....). I've also made new friends, been
adopted by a new Mom and have a cyber-
family that I spend a lot of time around the
home hearth with.
And here we are. I now have friends all over the
world and am able to indulge not only my recipe
addiction, but also my crafting and homesteading
obsessions.
I wouldn't trade any of it.