Interrupted internet access causes depression

People deprived of internet access feel upset and lonely according to a recent report on the Daily Mail.



What about people deprived of mothers, fathers and other family members who spend too much time online or on their phones?

For the past four years I served as a Director on the Clark County Fair Board. The second Tuesday of each month my daughter waved goodbye as I toodled off to board meetings. She didn't mind the time I invested, she loved the fair and experienced it herself through 4-H. She even took her Bolognese dog to the Washington State Fair where they won a blue ribbon.

Looking for next step, she became a founding member of the junior fair board. They're like a little start-up, raising funds before the fair and trying to figure out what they can add to the venue that no else is working on. My daughter's role was to create and post signs outside the barns of the day's events. For nine of those days she performed her duties without a co-hort who would make it fun.

She invited me to spend a day with her.

Yesterday, a Friday, I headed to Delfel Road on the outskirts of the county and landed square in the middle of the fair festivities.

Then my iPhone bleated.

Issue at work.

I bent my head over the oblong glass of my thin digital equipment. I tapped out a response. I made a call to clarify. I texted a few more times. I flipped through a few apps and responded to email. Closing in on noon, we stopped for a two-fer at the burger stand and the phone bleated like a new born goat.

By late afternoon, I learned a lesson that had nothing to do with local commerce, animal herdsmanship, fitting and showing, what to buy to have softer skin, or how to prepare quick family meals.

"I thought it would be fun to share the fair with you," complained my teenager. "But you spent the whole time looking at your phone."

As I pulled out of the parking lot, I realized she was right. I even had a kink in my neck.

We began our adventure not on the same page. She had wanted to buy a dream catcher, which we had done, but I thought she had already picked one out and just wanted to show it to me and have me buy it for her. What she really wanted was for the two of us to wander through every booth offering them for sale, discuss the merits of each, and then decide together which one to buy.

She didn't want a credit card, she wanted a day with mommy. And even at almost sixteen she enjoys calling me mommy. I thought taking care of a work issue would allow me to let go of the office and enjoy the day. Simple exchanges and assumptions did not define what her intent was, nor bring clarity to me of what role she wanted me to play.

If interrupted internet access causes depression, what are the results of an interrupted family?

What makes a good day?

A morning send-off from my teenager

One of the most interesting habits of my teenager is to ask me, “How was your day?” She does this with all sincerity, she eagerly awaits my response, and truly listens.

Hardly any of my day, I think, is that interesting, but I launch myself full tilt in the goings on of a busy media office. Sometimes, I don’t know until I start sharing whether it was a good day or not.

Always, that someone wants to listen, makes the end of my day extraordinary.

Occasionally, when I leave the house, there’s a little note for me. (See above). The only thing to do at that point is to smile and know that whatever road I drive on, the journey home will be joyous.

The business of family

It's England, it's 1590, and it's a boy.

He grew. He grew discontent.

He left England in 1630 to come to Plymouth, Massachusetts and became known as Deacon John Doane. From this man a family tree dug its roots deep into the soil of New England and then dispersed throughout America.

Today, The Doane Family Association of Amercia, Inc. celebrates family every other year with a reunion held at various sites in the United States. Besides family, the Doane's love a good mystery and right now the business of the Doane family is a quest to discover exactly where in England Deacon John originated, to uncover the family name of the Deacon's wife, and determine what vessel he used to travel to America.

This year the reunion is at Doane College, a nationally recognized college in Nebraska offering undergraduate and graduate programs across three campuses in Crete, Lincoln and Grand Island. From the Doane College website: "Deacon John Doane was one of the few who bore the title of "Mr." In 1633, he was on the list of Freemen. By 1632/33, he began serving on the General Court. He preferred to be a Deacon in the church, rather than an Assistant to the Governor. In 1644, Deacon John Doane was among those leading the enterprise of new settlement in the Nauset (now Eastham) area of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

It is a known fact that there are good Doanes, musical Doanes (Melanie Doane), athletic Doanes (Shane Doane), inventors and entrepreneurs (Doane Paper and LCDoane), illustrators (Pelagie Doane), and outright Outlaw Doans.

Who have you found in your family tree?