Fifty-Somethings versus Technology

A text I sent to our friends Gloria and Gary (G&G) today had me laughing harder than I've laughed in awhile so I thought I'd blog about it. It may be one of those "you had to be there" things but I'll document about us 50-year old techy-challenged people here for all posterity.

Steve and I decided to invite Gary, Gloria (above with us in the picture) and their son Jaret over for our family Easter dinner, they're really family anyway. ;) So I texted them and this is what it actually said:

"I can't remember what u have planned but the 3 of you are welcome for Easter dinner tomorrow at 5:00. Just Jamie's family and my mom and having ham & scalloped potatoes."

What I didn't realize is that G&G didn't know that if you text too many characters, it goes to a second page signified with a "2/2." So the message they actually saw was:

2/2 d potatoes

Gloria started laughing and said "huh?" So she sent me a message that said, "O...I so don't get what this means???

I got her message and was puzzled so I read my text to Steve and asked if he thought it was unclear? He said no, it makes sense to me, so I texted back:

"It means that you, Gary and Jaret are welcome to our house for Easter dinner if you are interested. And like the rest of our family events with the kids, it'll be a rootin' tootin' loud time!"

Unfortunately, they were still looking at only page 2 of each message (not realizing page 1 even existed) so they saw:

2/2 rootin tootin loud time.

At this point they were about double over laughing and wondering, what the heck?? Gloria texted me back, "Jenni, I need a translation, can't figure it out."

Again, I'm thinking, why is this so hard, I don't get it?? So I realized it was time to just call her. When Gary mentioned seeing the "2/2" first, I realized what happened, I explained it, and we had a good laugh at the whole thing. I didn't really know at that time what parts of the messages they had actually seen so when I was at a red light on the way to the store, I popped the messages up and realized they only saw "rootin tootin loud time" as my supposed "clarification" message. Then it really hit me how funny the messages must have seemed and I couldn't quit laughing - as in driving down the freeway with tears in my eyes - and no one else with me in the car.

So I get to Winco, now composed, and run in to get the few things I needed and it hit me all over again, which meant I started laughing out loud as I walked through a crowded aisle in Winco. I'm sure I looked like a crazy mental lady who talks to herself so I composed myself and was very happy to check out and leave.

So now you know what happens when technology meets the fifties! And if the story is only funny to the four of us, thank for reading it anyway. ;)