"The Blinkin' Stick"

Via telephone, I am attempting to teaching my mom, who is 3,000 miles away, how to use the Internet. This is a woman who, prior to buying her laptop a few weeks ago, had NEVER even touched a typewriter keyboard in her life. Talk about a quantum leap from the the pencil age into the "post-future"! It's been an education for both of us, though I can only speak for myself.
We've gotten terribly frustrated with each other and have come close to slamming down the phone. She's a perfectionist and really hard on herself. (So that's where I get it). She thinks she's stupid but I think she's brave. She becomes frustrated easily, as do I. She's smarter than she knows because not everyone could follow directions over the phone to navigate an interface that is completely new and alien. Until a month or so ago, she didn't know from a dialog box. She calls the cursor "the blinkin' stick,"no pun intended on her part or mine. Just days ago, I received from her the "first email (she) sent without any help." I wanted to cry with joy and pride, but I don't do that sort of thing, so I didn't. She even reads my blog. So in case she reads this, she will know that as crotchety and impatient as I am, I do enjoy the privilege of being with her on her discovery of the vast digital-scape. It's not nearly as much as she has done for me in this life!