I just couldn't get over the fact that everywhere I go, moms are on their cell phones. We take walks on our neighborhood nature path, and moms are pushing the stroller with one hand and holding their cell with the other. At the pool, where kids used to be able to count on some wonderful undivided parental attention, mom's waiting for a call. And I've been guilty of the cell phone at the park while the kids play, I have to admit. If not a cell phone, I've got a magazine I want to catch up on. 

The thought crossed my mind that there must be nowhere sacred anymore. On our next camping trip will Greg get cell phone service in the campground, creating one more place where uninterrupted family time will now be interrupted? Oh, how I hope not. It makes me feel like mourning.

Perhaps I'm being a little dramatic, but it seems to me that, slowly, sacred family time is disappearing. When will we give our little ones the undivided attention they need and crave? When can we spend just an evening with Ma cleaning up from dinner while Pa plays the fiddle and the little ones laugh and dance under the stars on the prairie? (Hmmm....can you tell that we're reading Little House on the Prairie these days?) Okay, maybe not on the prairie, but I'll settle for at least a technology free evening together as a family at home. Or at least, if technology is involved, I want to make sure we're spending some cozy time focusing on each other. Only.

My goal: turn off the cell phone, let the answering machine pick up the home phone, get of the computer, and play a game with the boys or read books for a whole evening together. I just don't want to be a part of the death of family nights. 

But let's not be completely negative. I still have the choice to not interrupt my precious family time, I just have to exercise that choice by being determined to do the family time, even if I'm tired out. I'll let you know how it goes.