My Significant Other
Molly writes about whether her next significant other should be into technology or not.
She says:
“I’ve always had SO’s in my life who were at least somewhat interested in what I did. But maybe that isn’t the best focus. Maybe I should be taking a closer look at the curly haired handsome and affectionate chef who wants to open his own restaurant in the Yucatan but could care less about the Web related services he’ll need?”
Mike and I have been together for 17 years. Before we were married, we geeked together since third grade. The idea of a spouse who isn’t married to my technology as well as me is so foreign that I can’t even imagine it. Sure, he is my technological superior and I have to be brought into new systems kicking and screaming at times, but technology is so intertwined with our marriage that I cannot distinguish where one ends and the other begins.
Sometimes I feel like we have a whole array of children. Some of them, Mike gave birth to, like The Quotations Page. He started that one on his own. Sure, I supported it, even when the costs to keep the server running were outweighing the meager income it brought in, but he gave birth to that one on his own.
Pick Me! was my child. I walked into his office and demanded a weblog. He created one for me, but my daily writing and my vision for it was my own.
Starling Fitness, Starling Travel and The Gadgets Page have been children that we both planned for and conceived equally.
All of our websites feel like children to me. Some of them are even getting old enough to support themselves, but unlike real children, they will never be self-sufficient. With no human children to pass the “family business” on to, what will happen to the family business?
Who will take care of our children when we are gone?
Laura,
It’s funny you talk about you Mike having so much in common with technology and it would feel so foreign if either one of you were not “geeks”. As it turns out my wife and I are polar opposites when it comes to technology. It wasn’t until just recently that I convinced my wife she needed email. I still have to remind her to check it at least once a week.
One of her goals this year was to learn more “geeky” things. I mean, for the past 22 years it’s all she has seen from me. She’s doing better. She just learned about online bill pay and Quicken. She keeps looking at my PDA; thinks she wants one but is still trying to justify in her mind why.
Our relationship has never suffered because of the technology gap. I’ve learned to laugh at her about it and she has learned to laugh at me about it. I wish she was more involved and I know she wishes I was less. But we’ve never made it an issue, and that has really worked for us.
As for your online children, they will survive. You just need to be on the look out for someone to take over if and when you aren’t able any more.
Great post.
Comment by Thom — 5/22/2007 @ 6:26 am