Today Was Traumatic

​Dear Sam,

Today was traumatic.

Not because it’s the first week of summer and all six kids are home.

Not because it’s the first of the month and all the bills are due.

No.

Today was traumatic because I finally addressed the email problem I’ve been avoiding for over a year.

For reasons I cannot fully explain, I convinced myself fixing my email would require a degree in computer science, a trip to a phone store, and possibly a priesthood blessing or an exorcism.

So naturally, I ignored it for twelve months.

Today I faced my fears.

It was every bit as awful as I imagined.

I fought Microsoft.
Then Outlook.
Then Outlook.com.
Then Microsoft 365.
Then GoDaddy.
Then something called a passkey.
Then Microsoft Authenticator.
Then verification codes.
Then verification codes to verify the verification codes.

At one point I was being asked to approve an app that required access to an account that I couldn’t access because I needed the app.

I briefly considered living the rest of my life without email.

My battery dropped from 29% to 7%.

My will to live followed closely behind.

Three hours later, a QR code, a laptop, a passkey, an authenticator app, and a mild spiritual experience later…

IT WORKS.

I HAVE EMAIL.

ON MY PHONE.

Like some kind of technological pioneer crossing the Oregon Trail.

I feel I deserve a parade.

Or at minimum a bath, a pint of ice cream, and several people telling me how brave I am.

Part of me wants to celebrate.

Part of me feels like I need therapy.

But mostly I wish you were here so I could hand you my phone and say,

“Fix it.”

And then watch you spend three hours figuring it out while I ate ice cream.

Anyway, the email works. 

I won.

Barely.

Love,
Your exhausted but technologically victorious wife

Ps. Email me!