Huck loves sending me funny videos of young adults imitating their moms in various states of technological distress, and they almost always make me cringe-laugh. I asked him why it’s always moms who get made fun of in these videos, for surely dads of the same age are also making these same mistakes. Huck agreed that while it is unfairly slanted toward the moms, it’s because we’re  just so sweet and we try so hard.

Fast forward a few hours to me nearly ruining dinner because I once again couldn’t figure out how to un-shuffle my Hamilton playlist.

We moms and dads go through a lot of stages in our identities over the years, and it’s sad sometimes to remember how victorious we seemed to our babies and toddlers compared to how they see us now. Huck’s overly patient face and slightly judgmental eyes when I struggle to remember how to do something he recently taught me (like how to un-shuffle a playlist) are very reminiscent of that time I caught him writing on his comforter with a Sharpie. He knew better!

But nothing, and I mean nothing, can turn two perfectly educated adults into temperamental three year olds like an Apple remote that’s gone bad. “Just use your phones,” Huck told us. “It’s so easy.” No. No, it’s not easy. Don’t believe him. It’s the opposite of easy. This summer there have been many evenings with Troy and me in tears, saying things we shouldn’t have, raising our voices to the Apple gods if only they would please, please turn our iPhones into magical TV remotes. One particularly devastating night we sat down to watch “Succession” only to realize HBO Max was now simply “Max” and required a new app and password and other awful things that challenged our mental stability. We thought we’d finally made it and started to breathe normally again when we noticed that in all the hubbub closed captioning got turned off, seemingly forever. There is no way the two of us can hear an English language show without our subtitles, so I finally managed to croak the words: “Just get him. We’re in over our heads.” And there went Troy, highly respected member of the community, shuffling with his head down toward the always-closed bedroom door of our tech support from hell. Knock-knock. “Yes?” Huck said with a mix of cynicism and self-righteousness, no doubt having heard our cries and curses. Troy raised his head, found what little self-respect he had left, and courageously whispered, “Can you help us with our phones?”

Hoping he still offers his services remotely.