History of Becky & the Computer

An early Apple computer

In 1989 (or there abouts), First Baptist Church, Borger got their first computers. They were little Apple computers. The church offered computer classes for the staff and then they were able to bring those little Apple computers home so they could practice what they were learning. Andy would bring that little computer home at nights and then teach me what he was learning. We learned together. I loved that computer. In fact, there were some things we learned that were so easy---I don't know why they were ever changed.

After that, internet was created. I can remember hearing about the information highway on television and had no clue what they were talking about. I think one of my first connections to it was when Caleb Mitchell brought a laptop to the Huff's house at a youth function and wanted to plug it into the phone line and show Matt something. I panicked---was there going to be a charge on their phone??? I could only pray there wasn't. He convinced me there wouldn't be--I had no clue!

I began working at the church library and they had a computer that I worked on. And because they were soon hooked up to the internet, I began learning my way around. Because the lady who worked with me was so intrigued with what I could do, she bought me a computer for my home. Seriously!! So my family became computer literates. We set the computer up in our kitchen and took turns on it.

There were days that I would sit at the computer all day long. In the early beginnings of the internet, the new internet sites would offer free things to entice you to come by their sites. So I would sit at the computer and go to free sites (there were searches just for free sites---way before google!). On webmd.com, I got dozens of Nike shoes. I got free golf clubs, free golf balls, free wooden spoons (wish I'd gotten more of those---I'm still using the one I got!), free jewelry, free make-up, free lotions, free purses, etc. There was even a network of "stores" that you could rack up points by logging onto their sites and then spend the points in one of the stores. I remember I got about $300 worth of groceries from a grocery store--delivered to my doorstep. That Christmas, I gave away about $1000 worth of gifts I'd gotten free!! I had a full-time job cruising the internet.

By then, I was also conversing with Marcy Griffin who was in Asia. We'd chat for hours. It was so much fun. I was also her "gatekeeper" by sending her emails to her friends--to keep her secure. After that, I became Ko's gatekeeper. It was also during this time that there were family sites where you could meet with your own family members and chat. It was so much fun! My dad was becoming quite an internet cruiser and my college kids, dad & I would meet in this family room and chat together. Dad loved it!

Then came google and myspace. While I was doing myspace, Marcy suggested I begin blogging. She thought I would enjoy it since I liked to write. I couldn't imagine blogging. In fact, I just didn't think I wanted to since I was blogging on myspace. But I decided to give it a try. And as you can tell, she was obviously right! I love blogging!! Then came Facebook---the grown-up version of Myspace! Then iPhones came along as well as Twittering. I can only wonder what's next. Can you believe how far we've come in 20 years? And just think---your children will never know a time when there were no home computers. And to think I was on the ground floor.