Five Green Lights

Five green lights. That's what brings me joy. I spend all hours of the day relying on those five solid green lights, the fifth light flickering in acknowledgement of my current task. When one of those lights doesn't do what it's supposed to do, I panic. No. It's worse than panic, I become a crazed feign looking for my fix. Have you ever lost internet service because of a bad modem? Welcome to my nightmare -- weekend.

I had no idea how important my connection had become not only to me but to everyone in the family. My husband noticed it first. He couldn't play some game he loves on Facebook. Since I wasn't having any problems, I didn't mind so much. I smiled as I thought, "Good, now he can start on some of those "honey-do" projects I've been begging him to get done for the past three months" -- I would give you the list, but I'd be embarrassed since some of them - well most of them- I could do. I'm just being stubborn. There I said it.

Then my son came out of his room, panicked and bewildered. He wanted to know if he was being punished. Suddenly he had lost access right in the middle of a chat with some girl he'd met. His iPod wasn't picking up the internet. His laptop had begun to go slower until he started getting the dreaded "THIS WEBPAGE IS NOT AVAILABLE MESSAGE". Still I was not phased. I was typing away and thinking of the trash that would get to the curb on time, the dogs that would be walked without distraction, the room that would be cleaned -- you get the idea.

And then MY internet light started to flicker. What the! My computer which could find a URL with page-turner speed began to take longer to find the page. I knew what was coming. I looked at my modem and sure enough, those five green lights were now three green one red and one nonexistent. Well we certainly couldn't have that, now could we? At least I have a legitimate excuse. I work online. I have business meetings online. I keep in contact with family online. My internet access is important! Ok so what if I occasionally play one or two of those Facebook games? It's only to keep my mind fresh as I complete other tasks. And besides all that, I was in the middle of a Star Trek: The Next Generation marathon on Netflix. I can't stop in season 3. This is madness.

It was at this point that I decided to call my internet provider. I won't name them (ATT) who told me that they had run tests on my line and that showed a problem. There would be someone out to repair it on Thursday. Wait a minute?! THURSDAY? So what am I supposed to do until Thursday? I mean these other folks - yeah- they have stuff to do around the house. Not me. I'm really busy. I guess they didn't get that memo.

Now folks are coming up with projects for ME! I don't believe what I'm hearing. Sewing? Laundry? Summer cleaning (which was supposed to be Spring cleaning, but I'm running behind)? It's official. I have to get my DSL working with a quickness! Who would have thought that five green lights could have caused such a havoc?