“What are you reading?” asked my husband.
“I’m alternating between “50 Shades”, “Hunger Games” and “Gone Girl”. With a little bit of Wayne Dyer thrown in. Oh, and “A Tale of Two Cities”.”
“You are reading “A Tale of Two Cities”?”
“Well, no, actually, it was a free download. So I’m not actually reading it per se – but it’s here should I ever want to read it. Dean Koontz has a new one out so Dickens may have to wait a bit.”
My husband has had iPad envy for awhile. I have to admit, I struggled with the whole Kindle, iBooks, Nook thing myself. Not all readers like to write, but I do believe all writers love to read – so books are an obsession – I mean passion – of mine. I have boxes of them, shelves of them and stacks of them. I have self-help, spiritual, religious, biographies, fantasies, murder mysteries, scientific and yes, even 50 Shades type.
So when my husband surprised me with an iPad awhile back I was thrilled yet skeptical. That is until I downloaded the Kindle app.
I guess I’ve always been a little envious of those that always had the newest technological toys. When my husband got the new iPhone last year, he teased me relentlessly by asking Siri questions he’d normally ask me. (For those that aren’t familiar or that frankly don’t care – and you know who you are – Siri is a nice little woman that lives in the iPhone and will answer questions, tell you how to get to the cheapest gas and let you know where the best sushi is.) So I guess I may have gotten him back a little bit by teasing him with the iPad. There he’d be, juggling the newest (400 page hardback) Stephen King book on his knees in bed, while holding a flashlight over it in order to read, since I don’t like a glaring light – after all, the iPad is backlit.
Having mercy, I recently surprised him with an iPad. We were meeting for dinner, and I brought it into the bar and put it next to him. He looked at the bag. “Why did you bring me something from Cracker Barrel? I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but we are eating here, so I don’t need a side of biscuits and gravy.”
“Just open it.”
And he did. And he yelped like a 5 year old girl opening her first real Barbie. I’d like to say he hugged me first, but alas, he hugged the iPad. “Hello, beautiful”, he said. I started blushing until I realized he was talking to his newfound love. Then he hugged me – quite hard. Choking, I said “relax; I was just getting tired of you staring at me while I read in bed. It was starting to creep me out. Now you have your own. And you can also stop teasing me with Siri.”
Our iPad’s now co-exist peacefully, side by side. We charge them together, and we let them sleep next to each other. Thank goodness both of them are safe,(his protective cover is gray, mine is pink) or we’d have a ton of little iPad mini’s running around. All is well in the technology race. Well, at least it was until yesterday. My new iPhone 5 came in the mail. When I got home, my husband was holding the box with the new phone and talking to his, via Siri. “Why can’t you be more like your younger sibling? So much more advanced and taller.”
As long as there are new techie toys, I suppose the envy may always be there. I pretend that I’m not envious, but I guess I’m more competitive than I thought. For now, however, we will live in peace and harmony, and our Siri’s will become like sisters. That is until the next big “have to” toy comes out.
By the way, Apple, if you are reading this – I am still a PC user. But I certainly can be swayed to a Mac.
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