I Think This Makes Me Old

We made it to Utah.  We survived the 12-hour car trip with minimal screaming and very few tears.  The DVD players helped immensely.

I learned something interesting on this drive.  Apparently kids these days come with a gene that triggers when they hit about 4th grade.  Suddenly they can text and do all the fancy-schmancy internetspeak.  They don't have to own a phone to be able to do this; their mother's phone is sufficient.

My mom asked us to text her periodically to let her know where we were and how the drive was going.  I honestly never thought I'd see the day when my mother asked me to send her a text message, but I guess keeping track of my younger sister and brother for so many years has made her proficient, and on a drive where our reception is intermittent at best, short and sweet text messages seemed like a good idea.

Vicki was bored, so she asked if she could do the honors.  For a kid who hates to write (and I mean hates to write - it's like pulling teeth to get her near a pencil and paper, except pulled teeth mean a prize from the dentist, while writing assignments just mean stupid writing work), she sure does like to text.  She's the one who showed me how to use the automatic spell feature on my phone (T9?  Is that what it's called?), so I don't have to hit so many buttons just to say hi to someone.  See what I mean?

Anyway, she sent two messages to my mom.  The first one was: "We are in between baker city and ontario.  Still in Oregon. (sigh) ;) Love, Vicki"  The second said, "We. Are. In. Utah! Yay! Love, Vicki"  Where does she learn that?  How did she know that if you're sighing about something, you put it in parentheses?  Or that you separate words with periods to give them emphasis?  I learned that by emailing and by reading other people's blogs.  She doesn't spend much time on the internet, and when she does, she's playing Webkinz.  She has an email address, but she hardly ever checks it.

I don't get it.