Right Click

 All along I thought that “right click” meant the opposite of wrong click. 

Whenever I made a mistake or couldn't find the command for whatever I was typing, I blamed it on my fingers, which are no longer dexterous in clicking the right buttons, and my eyes, which have dimmed from overuse (or more correctly, through the passing of years).  

But when I complained—aloud, very loud, so my sons could come to my rescue without moi having to beg them—they would holler, “Right click, Mom!” 

All the more I thought they were subtly berating me for clicking the wrong button.

And then one day, I was gifted with a grace moment. One of my fingers stiffened and I accidentally clicked on my mouse’s right button. Voila! 

There cascaded a list of things that could solve all my problems: paste, paste special, synonyms, insert comments, paragraph, bullets and numbering, etc. etc.  I no longer had to spend hours and hours looking for those commands. 

Indeed there is a right click, aside from a left click, and it is not the opposite of wrong! It almost froze or rusted on me from years of under-use.

I was wildly ecstatic that I hallucinated I was now a techie, which I really was after meeting with my friends, my age. 

“Hey, I just had an amazing discovery!” I gushed. 

“What?” they chorused and held their breath.

“Right click!” I said, almost shouting with excitement. 

Again, they chorused, “There is a wrong click?!”  

I stopped and felt another grace moment: my brain has not atrophied; it continues to absorb new digital wonders. 

Who ever said technology is for the young?