A show-me state of mind

New play space: colorful chaos.

"Show me how!" echoes through my house this weekend, and not just because my grandkids are visiting. This time I'm the one asking for help as I try to figure out my new smartphone and the new e-mail program our college just adopted. Fortunately, I have ready access to the world's greatest help desk: my daughter and son-in-law. Personalized service at a reasonable cost, paid in fresh blackberries--what more could anyone want?

While I explore my new tech, the grandkids are exploring some exciting new opportunities: we moved two big weight benches and all the weights out to the garage to make a safe play space downstairs. Add a battered coffee table, a few chairs, and a drawer full of play dishes and plastic food and you've got a kid-sized indoor picnic. The four-year-old has been helping her daddy fix nasty greasy gloppy things and helping Grampa pick tomatoes and okra in the garden, and the one-year-old has been chasing bubbles, eating berries, and experimenting with various methods to get up and down stairs. "Uh-oh" is his new favorite word, guaranteed to get attention from any adults in the room.


Amidst all the fun, I've been fiddling with settings and figuring out how to take photos, send texts, configure settings, and do all the stuff that comes with a new piece of technology. My personalized help desk offers answers to questions I don't even know how to ask, so I'm way ahead of where I would have been without their help. The real test will come after they leave. If I get into any trouble, I'll just echo my grandson: "Uh-oh!" Watch that help desk come running!