Even the title of this blog shows my age. Does any young person out there even know what this phrase means? And while we oldsters may know what it means I, along with many others, did not know its origins. It actually comes from the word umble which was old English for the organs of a deer. If you were eating umble pie, a real thing, you were not from the upper crust for one did that only when confronted with starvation as an alternative. This word has transmogrified into humble pie which means admitting you were wrong in your firmly held assumptions.
Which comes to me and computers. I must admit that I had been feeling pretty good about myself and my command of this machine that rules our lives. If I was not Tik Toking, or Tweeting that was by choice. Yet I was posting a blog in two different places, finding pictures to go with them, handling our taxes and finances online and generally feeling pleased about myself. Then…….
I was told by one of my very competent offspring that I needed to “clean up” my phone which meant deleting many things in its background I did not even know were lurking there. I began the process with good cheer. After all, +I thought, for my age I was pretty good with electronics. All went well in my merry deleting until I discovered, deep in the bowels of my very unsmart phone, a set of emails that I had never seen before. This is where I was served a large helping of humble pie.
These emails were all in response to this website and went back two years. And in all that time they were lying there unread. I began reading the long list of emails from new friends, old acquaintances, people I had not heard from for years, and people I did not even know who were all taking the time to comment on my writing. Those my age shared similar experiences from their pasts, some shared further interesting thoughts on a subject, some just thanked me and all were an inspiration. And I had read none of them in two years.
So, between bites of my pie, I send out my apologies to those who wrote and received no reply. I now know where these emails are hidden although I still have no idea why. But that does not matter. I will check them daily for the inspiration and pleasure they bring. Many thanks to all of you faithful, and now appreciated, correspondents.