Nine days ago I announced to my online circle of friends that I was going offline for 100 days.

The goals are many, my list is long. My family has been very supportive.

This is a huge thing for me, considering that I’ve been online in one fashion or another since college. Back then the screens were just green text on black, and our printers were dot matrix…. this was around 1989. But a few friends had started using e-mail and my first job called for me to buy a new PC and get online service, so I could work weird hours especially after having our first child. My first boss was super-flexible and super-tech-savvy that I only mostly went in to work when hubby came home and we could all go as a family. By then the offices at the research facility were closed and most of the people were gone, except my boss who stayed late sometimes. I had the most basic of services, I think America Online at $5.95 a month (hah!), and OF COURSE it was dial up. My boss had designed, together with his computer team, a software that allowed our computers to communicate.

So, online for 20+ years… though I’m not 100% offline during these 100 days. Still check my e-mail once or twice a day, and still blog. But the fruits have been undeniable. This was actually the result of a Lenten experiment that had to do with SILENCE. I have been reading, learning, studying this virtue…. maybe one of these days I’ll blog about it as well.

The projects (sigh) are endless — like the photo albums that have stood neglected for the past 10 years or so as we moved from place to place, had two more kids, got back to homeschooling, traveled…. it is tedious work, but B encourages me with his usual and pithy “One thing at a time”. Day One was easy: declutter my dresser drawer. “Work on pictures” was on Day 2 of my 100-day list, but I’ve been working on it for 7 days now. I’d suffer from total burnout if it weren’t for the fact that looking at these pictures, sorting them, rearranging them, sifting the good from the bleh, brings back so many memories, promises of days to come, dreams realized.

Ninety-eight projects to go.

I’m detaching, and re-attaching. It’s been a remarkable journey, so far.