Mechanics

Italian immigrants at New York settlement house

     In the bad old days, people who did poorly on IQ tests could be classified as "morons," "imbeciles," or "idiots."  The tests favored people like me: verbal, book-oriented,  native English speaking. Those who were rigidly logical, or mechanical, or who thought in pictures, were at a disadvantage.

Apple one-to-one class

     Flash forward sixty years, and I am the one at a disadvantage. It's true that I ask Judy to refill  mechanical pencils for me.  It's true that  replacing the ink cartridges in the printer stymies me.  But who would think that getting up to speed with a new computer and printer would be such a struggle?  For instance, the instructions for hooking the new printer up to the wireless system consisted entirely of icons.  No words.  No dial with on/off  printed on it.  What's a Gutenberger to do?
      Every week I trudge over to the Apple store at Bridgeport for lessons, like an immigrant going to the settlement house for citizenship classes.  The Apple instructors, so calm and nonjudgmental and can-do, have joined the Les Schwab tire guys in my band of angels.  With their help, I hope to  rise to the level of "average" in the intelligence  needed for today's life.

Les Schwab tire guy

     And who would think that body mechanics could be so touchy at my age?  I fell asleep sitting up in my armchair (don't tell me that you don't do that) with my right ear reaching toward my right shoulder.  For the next ten days, I had pain and numbness in my neck and my left shoulder.  There were many times when my resident nurse practitioner declared me unfit (too drugged) to go out and about.  I have been lucky not to have much pain in my life.  I was amazed at how much pain and pain management could kidnap my focus.

Chuck, Sharon, Maggie, Lois, and The Pie

     On the happier side of mechanics, Chuck and Lois came over to instruct us in their improved technique for  making pie crusts.  We savored a great apple pie in a perfect crust.