My computer that locked up in February is at the shop right now. The tech told us he's never a seen a virus like what infected my hard drive and that it may be completely impossible to remove files. [sigh].  Even with my backup disks  from barely a month before it failed, there's still a lot of work lost.  So, the summer reading I've planned is out the window. Somehow I've got to become tech savvy or at least literate before the next school term. Ick.  I had planned to finish reading Paradise Lost this summer.

Hubby has a laptop that we use now. It's neat, but it's hard for me to get used to not having a plug-in mouse.  As much as I enjoy using a computer, and as thankful as I am that my husband is employed in a tech-related field, sometimes I just need  pen and paper.  My Dad's oncologist was trying to use the same model during one appointment and getting frustrated trying to take notes and click all the right things. Next appointment he appeared with paper and pen and informed us, "I need a pen to feel productive. "  We're such dinosaurs.

One of my Sunday School students bought me a journal for Christmas. How I love pretty BLANK paper, ready for me to compulsively make lists, essay as the mood hits, pen prayers/poems/praises/songs, and even doodle in the margins.  Maybe losing the computer isn't such a tragedy after all.

When I read essays or hear discussions about handwriting not being necessary to a good curriculum, I cringe and shudder. Not write? Confined to keystrokes? Is communication becoming distilled to clicking shortcuts with no sense of the beauty of language? Say it isn't so!  HORRORS! 

Yes, I know I'm a tree-killer by clinging to my paper habit.  So be it. Sometimes, I just "need a pen to feel productive."