Life Lessons

Today's post is on life lessons, which I inevitably and generally without fail, have to learn the hard way.

{ cj showed an interest in computers since infancy }

This was the invite for CJ's one-year birthday party (the details have been modified).  Sure, the photo of him playing on the computer and following in the footsteps of his father (a web developer) seems harmless and adorable enough.  However, the reality is it's really NOT a smart idea to let your child slam away on the keyboard of your laptop.  Hubby downloaded a program called BabySmash for CJ - it lets your child press the keys and fun shapes, letters, and noises pop up on the screen.  As you can imagine, CJ absolutely loved it.

Well, the end result of all that babysmashing looks something like this:

{ take note of essential keys missing on this laptop and then make mental note never to let a child near yours }

So LIFE LESSON #28:  Do not let your child play with expensive technological devices unless you really don't mind typing without the shift, control, and other necessary keys and having to pay ridiculous repair fees.

Speaking of repair fees, this leads me to another important lesson.

LIFE LESSON #56:  Never ever ever leave liquids near the laptop!

{  the new laptop getting sent back for repair }

This is a painful and expensive lesson I've had to learn within the last 48 hours.  It was time for a new laptop (as you can obviously see), so I ordered the Lenovo Ideapad Y460 less than 3 weeks ago.  The machine is awesome!  I wasn't quite crazy about the design (thought it looked a bit masculine), but as far as horse power, storage, functionality, graphics, media (I particularly love the JBL speakers!), it really was a good buy.  And what made it better was that I had gotten it on sale, and it cost me $350 less than the going retail price. 

Well, so much for saving money.  On Monday, I was sitting at the dining room table updating the blog while drinking a nice glass of ice cold water.  The next thing I know, I'm knocking the entire glass of water all over the keyboard of my spankin' brand new laptop.

And then the lights go out.  The screen turns black.  The machine is gone.

Try as I might to get all the water out, dry the computer and revive it somehow, it was a lost cause.  I left it to dry for over 24 hours and nada.  So now it's going to some depot in Texas to get repaired, and because it was an accident, it's not covered under the one-year warranty.  More money down the drain.  Whatever dollars I saved will now be incurred by the cost of a new motherboard and who knows what else to get the thing working again.

But after all this is said and done, here's the punchline:  there's a life lesson I've learned that precedes, supercedes, rectifies, and provides solace to the previous ones stated here.

LIFE LESSON #2: Material things will wither away to dust and won't mean anything in the end. There are treasures far more important and far more eternal.

So no point in crying over spilled milk (or water in this case). There are truly many, many more important things in life. 

{ grandma & grandpa with baby ava }

(Grandmother, I love you dearly and am so grateful for the godly example you've been in my life.  Thank you for showing me there is no greater treasure in this world than Jesus himself.  As you prepare to see Him face-to-face, help us to celebrate in knowing you will be with Him at the banqueting table and feast on His goodness and grace all the days of eternity.)