Blackberry, Crackberry, it is in my hands

Let’s talk about this Blackberry thing, you know, the Crackberry part of the equation. Everyone close to me knows that I “live” by my Blackberry.
No, I am not a workaholic, not tied on a 24 hour leash to a boss’s whims, and definitely not forsaking family and friends for a vibrating pacifier. But I do look at it on and off all day long. I am sort of lost without it nearby. WHY?
My honey and all our kids are out of town. My honey works out of town and has a long commute. The kids all live out of town. My sisters live out of the country. Many of my friends live out of this area. For this reason most of our communications will not be sitting across the table sharing a cup of tea from the same pot.
I write letters and send cards but many days pass between the moment they are written and the time they are being read. It feels good to hold a letter, my fingers following the flow of the ink and the lasting essence of the writer’s touch on the paper. Most of the time I want to tell someone what I think and hear what they have to say back pretty quickly. Our lives however have paths that travel through so many different places; it is good that we can still touch each other wherever we are.
I have said this about my Blackberry on other occasions.... I can read what my friends are telling me when I have the free moments to do so. I check it when I am waiting in a long line at the store, locked in the limbo of being “on hold” in telephone land, stuck at the train tracks waiting for a passing train, sitting until I am called in for my appointment, not interested in what is on television, needing few minutes to myself. I look and there are notes from some special some one out in e-world. All my frustration melts away.
Ceaseless vibrating, not here; the only messages that trigger any type of notifications are my honey and kids. No one else is really important enough to me to interrupt my day. Anyone can set their options so that they control who is making their Blackberry buzz, and when.
200+ emails-- delete, delete, delete. Search, sort and delete. You can do it, really. That is why subject headings and sender’s names show up on the screen. You already know who any message is from and what they want to talk about.
The beauty of the Blackberry is that it gives you the power to set it up in any way that suits your personal needs. It is a tool. Use it as a tool. What a great tool it has been.
All the lists, details, addresses, dates, memos, to-do’s, and any other tidbit that would be written on small pieces of paper are safely thumbed into my Blackberry. I am far less likely to lose the Blackberry than the many little pieces of paper (and all those messages are going to be at my fingertips when I want them).
I have an amazing network of wonderful friends that I have met online. So many quilters, so many lessons learned and so many smiles inspired.
When I want you to reach me I will share my Blackberry address with you. I will check out your message and I likely will respond. No personal space will have been compromised in this exchange and nothing work related is likely to be taking place.
P. S. My deepest apologies to anyone who has been talking to me while I picked it up and scrolled down the screen, I probably really needed to check what time I was supposed to.... and I sure love the camera, internet browsing, just “reach out and touch somebody” feel in my hands.

:)