Steve

I was so tired Wednesday night.  I was a little bit sick and just worn out.  After we put Abby to bed, I went into our room and thought "nothing sounds better than sleep"  I didn't want supper or tv or anything.  So, I got into bed at 8pm.  I was a little sad that I was not spending time with Kyle...I was forfeiting our usual "how was your day" time in favor of sleep.  But Kyle understood.

I slept until 2am - when I woke up out of habit.  Elizabeth was still sleeping, so I took the time to check my phone (it's instinct, I check it every time I wake up).  I saw that I had 2 text messages.  One from a friend and one from Kyle.  I read my friend's message first and it said "I'm sorry for your loss"

Well, that certainly confused me.  I read Kyle's message next where he told me the sad news that Steve Jobs had passed away.

I was surprised by how sad that made me.  In fact, I was a little annoyed with myself.  I didn't know this man.  He certainly didn't know me.  We all knew he'd been sick and had stepped down recently...we knew this was coming.  But why was it making me so sad?  Why was I tearing up at 2am over a computer guy?

A few reasons.

Firstly, because, for reasons I can't explain, Jobs was a kind of...I can't say friend, and I think hero is too strong a word, but...um...an inspiration? in our house.  While we didn't have a relationship with Jobs, he was somehow a part of our relationship.  I know, I KNOW.  That sounds ridiculous.  But the first reason I was sad was because Kyle had to hear that news without me there...and I was somehow upset that I wasn't there to watch the coverage with him.

Let's back up a few years.

I wasn't dating Kyle when he got his first mac, but I remember the day.  It was a 17 inch silver beauty and he was so excited about it.  He was especially excited about the accessibility features that would allow him to access material with much more ease than on his PC.

Time went on and we started dating.  We took a weekend trip with our friends Billie Jo and Ricky to Atlanta.  It was the weekend that Ricky proposed to Billie Jo at a Braves game. :)  Before we came home, we stopped by my first apple store.  I was just looking around and I noticed the cutest little laptop - a little bitty 12 inch thing.  I played with it.  Kyle came up and said "Whatcha lookin' at?" and I said, "I named him Pico"  Kyle laughed (because it is SO like me to name an inanimate object) and said "Well, if you named it, you gotta keep it"

I couldn't afford it of course.  So, Kyle bought it for me.  We kept that pretty hush hush because we'd only been dating a few months...if that.  I paid him back with my RA paycheck every month for about a year.  But, it was thanks to Kyle that I got my first mac.  Of course neither of us have ever looked back.

Kyle's love of all things Apple is infectious...and a friend of mine who also has an Apple-loving husband brought up that it is also endearing.  I believe Kyle has converted most, if not all, of our family into mac users.

Anyway.  We've been Apple fans for a while.  We go to the stores for fun.  We stood in line to see the Boston store on opening day.  We watch the keynotes (or Stevenotes as they're known) and consider it a date night.  Some of my favorite date nights with kyle were watching Steve unveil his newest contraption while we ate apple themed foods in our jeans and black shirts and talked about the ins and outs of whatever was being shown.  I remember watching the iPhone be revealed.  I remember our excitement and I remember telling my family about this awesome new phone that I could only ever dream of owning.  It's kinda funny now.

So, my point is this.  Steve Jobs has been part of our relationship in this way - we bonded over it.  So, when I heard that he had died, I think that's why I was sadder than I had anticipated I would be.

Abby and Elizabeth will never ever know a world without mac products.  They were born into an iPhone, iPad culture.  Abby can use my phone just as well as I can.  It's unreal.  It is difficult to wrap my mind around it - around how much Steve has changed our world through technology.  I'm not going to go through a biography of the man.  It suffices to say he was an interesting individual, a genius  in his field, and an inspiration to so many.

To my girls - This guy that I've been talking about will have no real meaning in your life.  But he was a smart guy and he said some smart things that I want you to hear.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” 


It's good advice, really.

I'm also a fan of

"Why join the Navy if you can be a pirate?"

I like it because it's whimsical...not practical. ;)

Anyway, I just thought I should mention this event because I felt like it was worth noting and I wanted the girls to know it happened and to have some understanding of it.  I don't really know if I accomplished that or not, but that's fine too.

 Rest in peace, Steve.  Thanks for being a part of our lives.

This was one of my favorite tributes. 

Thanks.