Magic

Christmas. It is a magical time. Christmas lights, presents, family, and santa--It was everything you could have ever wanted in a holiday.

During my first Christmas in the United States, in the midst of all the excitement of the holiday, I gained my first glimpse of technological magic. It was on the morning of December 25, 1996. IT was a cold Georgia morning. Colder than most other days. My sister and I woke up in the wee hours of the morning and stared at all the marvelous wrapping---SANTA came!

In our mind, our good behavior had been rewarded. As we opened one present after another, we grew more and more excited. We threw the clothes to the corner and marveled at the toys . As we were slowly coming down from the high of all our new things, my papa told us to look in the car. Our smiles grew and we rushed to put all of our coats on. We piled on all the layers as fast as we could. After 5 minutes, we both rushed to the car.

We opened the door, and what did we see? Three large boxes. We looked at each other. We shrugged. We looked at our papa. He then preceded to bring them inside as we both screamed, "What is it?" He and my mother just smiled. 

After lugging each of the three boxes into the house, we dug in. We ripped the wrapping away, and saw the insignia. 

Compaq.

We preceded to open the boxes and as the styrofoam overflowed from the box, we saw the beauty of the present--a beautiful 15" CRT monitor.

After we opened the three boxes, our uncle preceded to assemble the mammoth machine. After waiting 3 full hours, I sat in front of the bright screen.  Looking back now, I see what my first computer did to me and my sister. 

At that time, to some, the computer was just a machine, but to us, it signified the "what if." 

In truth, we had no internet. We barely knew what to do. The primary functions were a word processor and solitaire (a game I did not know how to play); however we were enamored by the machine.  Moreover, we did not see what it could NOT do, we focused on what it could. THe magic was feeling. We felt as if we were walking hand in hand to advancement. We did not know what the machine meant for the future but we were part of it. 

The magic was more than the machine--it was the fact that the possibilities were endless and we were part of that possibility.