TheBanyanTree: My First Computer

[Dave]

 Life has many twists and turns. Sometimes a fork in the road appears before us on life's 
route. The future can change with the turn of the head, a smile, or an unrequited hello.

 Such an encounter happened to me on the way to the electronics store to purchase a computer. 
My first computer had a 486 processor with half a gigabyte memory, plenty of space to write 
short stories or even a novel. Grammar checking software had to be purchased separately. This 
was my plan, to write. The best action for this was the purchase of a Packard Bell computer. I 
was in my thirties and living alone, working a steady job with open nights for writing.

 The girl I was dating had not returned my calls for a few days. Kelly and I were at a slow 
period in our friendship, and I was ready to busy myself with other pursuits. Like computing 
and writing. On the way to the electronics store, I had to drive by her home. Exactly at that 
time her car was leaving her driveway. She caught up to me at the stoplight on the next block.

 I knew it was Kelly. I recognized her car and license plate. But I never made eye contact. I 
had it set in my head to buy this computer. After researching and pricing machines for a week I 
had made up my mind on the Packard Bell. Her car pulled up next to mine and I knew looking over 
would spark a conversation.

"How about dinner and a movie?" she would ask. "Or a couple drinks?"

 If I turned my head and made eye contact, Kelly would smile, we would meet up for the night 
and I might never get to the store for that computer, I did not turn my head. I chose to ignore 
her and drove on to the electronics store.

 "I can get you hooked up to the Internet," my father told me. He was just as excited about my 
purchase as I was.

 "I was just going to use the machine to write," I told him.

 "But I have the number for a place called Heartland Network. You should try it."

 "The modem hasn't been used yet," I said. "I'm not sure it even works."

 "Of course it does. It's new isn't it?"

My dad helped me dial up to Heartland Community Network, and from there I could get out to the 
Internet. Heartland had many features, one of which was a personal ad section. In between short 
stories and my novel writing, I perused the Heartland forums that were offered.

 One post struck my fancy and I answered it. A woman had just moved to Peoria, Illinois, from 
Phoenix, Arizona, was a Bradley student, and looking for someone to befriend. That someone 
ended up being me. Soon we would go from being pen pals to our first date. Later, I would marry 
this woman. Her name is Bonnie, and we are happily married to this day. I have never heard from 
Kelly again.

 If I had turned my head that evening what would the night had turned into? More importantly, 
would I ever become a published writer without a computer? Would I now be happily married? 
These questions run through my head when I think back. On that day, sitting in our cars at the 
stoplight was a turning point in my life, a fork in the road. I could sense her presence, my 
intuition told me Kelly was smiling and surprised to see me. Just a turn of the head, and my 
whole life might be different right now.


Dave Seaman