Instantly Gratifi-ed.

Look out world, I've finally downloaded a mobile blogging app! (Yes, I understand I am severely behind the times!) I am typing this from a moving train and while I find it very exciting, I also can't help but feel like I've sold out.

Yesterday evening, I took a run along the Hoboken waterfront as the sun was setting against the skyscrapers across the river. It was a gorgeous afternoon, a perfect fall crispness to the air. My music was shuffling just right and I was inspired to pause and snap a quick photo on my iPhone before heading home.

I often think about how much the world has changed since I was a little girl. Growing up, it would have seemed like science fiction to imagine that I could take my phone on a run with me to play music, snap a photo, make a phone call and play a game of Scrabble all at the same time. While I don't disagree that it's amazing, it also makes me yearn for the days when things moved a bit slower and required a bit more effort. We are truly a spoiled generation--instant gratification is literally at our fingertips. It's all so wonderful and terrible at once.

I often try to imagine the world my children will live in. Technological advances are inevitable--things are getting faster, more convenient, more digital everyday. I just hope that the next generation will still appreciate the little moments our world offers us, like a sunset on a beautiful fall day, or the way your lungs feel after a hard run.

Here I make a promise to teach my children about the joys of life as I saw them as a kid. I'm sure they'll laugh at how little knowledge I have of the latest technology, as we all do with our parents, but while they have their heads down, absorbed in an app or a text, I'll be pointing out the sunset.

May we save a piece of the real world for the next generation, just as our parents have tried to do for us. And with that, I am off to walk the dog and (gasp!) leave my phone behind.