Searching for...

There are things we have all had an emotional connection to in our lives. It could be our first pet (Matthew was my black labrador) or the texture of the back seat in our parents car (ahhh - pleather). These things bring an instant satisfaction - a feeling that the world is going right and you're right where you need to be.

For me... today... that satisfaction comes in one word. This word didn't exist some years back, but immediately brings a smile to the under-fifty crowd. We've all seen it. We all know it.

YouTube.

According to my page (Yes, it allows me to claim ownership like Charles Ingalls claimed "The Prairie"), I joined YouTube on April 5, 2006. I don't know what was significant that day. I was over 30, so it wasn't to share my dancing abililties from Howl at the Moon Indy for the third-decade celebration. I had not yet been to Cleveland, Ohio, to enjoy the Grand Opening of the "A Christmas Story" House and Museum. Perhaps I was mentally finished with preparing my taxes, so I diverted to YouTube.

Regardless, it's become sort of a warm blanket on a cold night. Just call me Linus, already.

Is it bad that I have watched 7,590 videos just since my registration on YouTube? I honestly don't know. I'm hopeful that repeat views of a video count multiple times (I mean, who hasn't laughed at Scarlet Takes a Tumble or been amazed at the kid who did a green-screen tribute to Michael Jackson), but I have no guarantee of this.

I do know that I have used YouTube as a background diversion at work - listening to a random song that suddenly pops in my head and I must instantly hear the complete version. I have also used it to re-live history - watching news reports of little boys flying across the Rocky Mountains in a balloon, only to tell the nation that he "did this for a show."

Really, Dad and Mom? You didn't think a six-year-old might spill it?

Growing up in southern Indiana was not a Metropolis of activity. We certainly had our daily newspaper (so 1950s), but in junior high and high school we began the transition to adulthood with Lisa Ling, Michelle Ruiz and the rest of the cast on "Channel One." In a twelve-minute newscast we were taught about the transition of Reagan to Bush #1, shown how Algebra is beneficial in life (still waiting on that one), and heard commentary about the concerns of bulimia - interspersed around acne commercials and reminders to volunteer in our community.

When I graduated from high school in 1994, and headed off to college, the internet was new ground. Who knew you could view porn without purchasing it? My sophomore-in-college friends were showing me message boards of stuff that still makes me a bit queasy. But, I had this new thing - email - where I could send messages to my high school friends at their colleges. Granted, when using dial-up, it took about five minutes for the computer to be ready to accept my "Hello" or "When are you coming back to Bloomington?" notes. But, I knew it was something that would be big.

So after fifteen years, a few personal computers, upgrades from dial-up modems to cable, monitors that weighed more than the Freshman Fifteen we all gained... here I am. Sitting here typing to you (and you know who you are) while sharing about a website that brings awareness, intelligence, humor and compassion. We've come a long way, baby.

Someone famous said that. Who was it?

Let me see if it's on YouTube.