Jobs

When Carol came to visit us in India last fall, she gave us a new copy of Isaacson's book. Jobs had just died. Jo started reading it and finished it quickly. I let the book sit there till my last trip to India this June. During my long flights there and back I read about half the book. Then I read it two pages at a time over July and finished it yesterday.

At home we are surrounded by Apple products - I type this blog on a MacBook Pro, my fourth mac - each one having stayed in constant use for over 5 years. Jobs made some amazing stuff. And he created two companies that are hitting home run after home run. I remember laughing with John Stewart when he did a piece on the iPad. He held it up to his ear like an over-sized iPhone and feigned surprise when he couldn't make a phone call. But Jobs (and Apple shareholders) got / are getting the last laugh.

For Christmas last year we went to Hong Kong. One morning Laurel and Caroline and Reggie and the four of us walked up over a hill to a fishing village on the other side. It was a 4 mile hike with about 750 feet of climbing. For a portion of the hike Caroline was in a carrier on Laurel's back. She was hot and tired but she was also fighting falling asleep and was getting cranky. When we stopped to take a break Laurel pulled out her iPhone, tapped open a cartoon and handed it to Caroline. In a few seconds Caroline was calmly chilling.

For a moment Laurel and I sat there on the deserted hill top looking over Sunset island and the South China sea and we thought Steve must be smiling somewhere every time someone uses one of his beautifully crafted products.

But here's looking at it from another angle. Would I hope that Vivian or Evan would grow up to be like Jobs. No - I would not wish that on them.