The "WORD" is Magic...

Number one, I LIKE this 'hands free' model cell phone...looks like something I could afford.

Number two, I remember the first cell phones...the first time I saw one of these was at my sister's house when she was married to her high school sweetheart. I thought she had either married a millionaire or my parent's were just trying to hold our family back from moving into the new millennium in "Style."

Turns out my sister wasn't married to a millionaire and my parents were the type that neither understood or desired to be a part of the "New" age of communication.

Fast forward 33 years and I have three kids that all have cell phones that they keep closer to their bodies than a heart monitor needed to keep them alive.

I'll admit that I like to be able to contact them at any given time...whenever I want.

When my oldest got a cell phone it was a fiasco. This was before texting was the rage and he went SO over his minutes that we wound up with a cell phone bill bigger than our mortgage.

The cell phones went away...took me a year to pay the bill off, $20 at a time and I swore we would never have them again.

Flash forward...now I have two MORE kids that are teens and cell phones that used to be an extravagance are now a necessity.

Unfortunately I am a slow learner. But...I learned quickly about what kind of phone plan to get...unlimited texting, but,

I'm just not a quick texter.

Number one: My eyes are terrible and the letters are so small on my phone that it takes me forever to send a text.

Number two: I was an English major and refuse to send a text with mis spelled words.

Number three: Having three kids requires A LOT of texting.

My two teens that are still at home kept telling me to use "Word" to send text messages.

It was like they were telling me to use the XrG2 factor button and to minimize mistakes , upload the tool that can only be optimized by hitting the pound sign twice followed by a secret code only received via satellite from the planet "Krypton."

I tried the "Word" thingy...Didn't work for me so I gave up.

The other night I took Massey to guard practice and she gave me a verbal tutorial on the way. "Mom, it is sooo much easier. When the word doesn't appear just press this button til the right word pops up."

I blew it off and returned home to jump on my "Johnny Dear" who I DID understand and cut the crap out of some grass.

I went back to pick her up at the school at 9:00 PM. As usual she was late getting out of practice so I decided to try her "Word" theory.

In my girl's world... it was OMG ROTFL LMBO . In the words of my 18 year old son it was WTF was I thinking? As I sat in my car (with my glasses on) I sent Massey several "Fake" text using 'word' and got the hang of it after 4 or 5 text.

In "MY" words "OMG" where have I BEEN?

It was like MAGIC !!

I used to slip in the restroom at work to send them a text and it took me five minutes to say "Where are you" or "What do you need."

BABY...this 'word' thing has opened an entire new avenue to being a working Mom.

How in the heck can a cell phone know what you mean, translate letters that are originally typed in as scrambled words and transfer them into a meaningful message???

I'm here to tell you that it is "MAGIC" pure and simple.

Thank the Lord I have teen ager's.

They have taught me more about living in this new age than I thought I would ever have to learn.

I swear I feel like our last name should be "Jetson."

I almost feel sorry for my kids.

What the heck are THEY going to have to learn to keep up with MY grand kids??

Hopefully by then "Hover Crafts" will all use "Onstar" and be guided to my nursing home by the push of a button.

Of course by then there will be "Parent Block" laser feature or a "send the ole fart a card" button that they can hit and feel justified in the fact that they made an inter celestial attempt to keep in touch with me as I scrub down the halls of the nursing home on a walker with tennis balls attached...waiting for my next text. At least I now know how to send them a QUICK text saying "Put a pillow over my face and don't remove it til my legs quit kicking."

Totally kidding (I hope)

Til next time, a savvy new user of "Word."

COTTON