Computer-Savvy Guy

An interesting thing happened at our house one day last week. My husband, whose main activity on the computer is Solitaire and reading e-mail, was at the computer. He had tired of Solitaire and was just looking at the pictures that I use as a screensaver. Many pictures of family members through the years make for a pleasant pastime and both of us take advantage from time to time as we remember those old pictures we see scrolling across the screen.

He saw our son's name on the page with all the icons. He had never seen that before, so he clicked on it, and suddenly Steve's face appeared in full view on the screen.

"Hello, mom," Steve said. He assumed it was me because I'm the one who does most of the computer stuff around here.

"This ain't mom!" my husband said. But he still didn't know what was happening.

"I can't see you," Steve said.

"Well, I can see you. What is this?" my husband asked.

"You're on Skype," Steve informed him.

"What's that?" dad replied.

"It's a telephone thing on the web. We can talk, but first I need to see something besides the ceiling. Is there a little round thing on top of your computer screen?"

My husband looked around, found it, and said, "Yes."

"Turn it until you can see me," Steve told him.

Charlie turned it and Steve said, "Now I can almost see you! Turn it a little more." After some adjustment, they were able to see each other and talk.

My husband came to me and said, "I just Skyped with Steve on the computer." He didn't know what he had done and he doesn't know how to do it again, but he felt capable and computer-savvy because he had Skyped with our son in Germany and he didn't even need my help to do it!

(Here is a picture of my husband with his brothers. He is in the back row, with the tan shirt.)