A New Addition

Yesterday Debby and I welcomed a new grandson into our family. Our youngest daughter Liana and her husband Sebastian are now proud parents, of a healthy baby boy, Hudson Diesel Rhodenizer.  Within an hour of his birth, we were able to announce his arrival to all our friends and most of our family.  Pictures were taken using our phone cameras and posted to social media sites, proudly introducing Hudson (or Baby H as he has been known to many in the months leading up to his birth) to the world.  We were also able to email announcements to friends around the world, with picture attachments, in a matter of minutes.  Soon congratulations were being posted on Facebook, or arriving by email.  Having said that when I got up yesterday morning I did still have to make a few phone calls, and the first one was to my father, who does not have a cell phone or computer, so the only way I could let him know about Hudson's birth was to use the old fashion land line, and he in turn congratulated all of us the old fashioned way, verbally. 

Today I started to wonder if in fact there were others that I should call, maybe those who are not friends on Facebook, or if they are friends they may not check Facebook daily, or even those who I just forgot to email or call; assuming they knew through social media.  Maybe that is one of the problems with society today, we are starting to relay more and more on newer technology  that we forget how to actually interact personally with our friends and family.  Oddly as I was writing this my brother Ralph called to congratulate me the old fashioned way, verbally and I must say I appreciated it.   I wonder what the world will be like when Baby H or I guess I should start calling him Hudson welcomes his first born into the world.  Will he relay on even newer technology that we cannot even begin to imagine, and then days later realize that his grumpy old Papa may not even know because he has not yet embraced this new technology.  I can only hope that this new unimagined technology does not farther remove us from interacting personally with those we love. 

As I have mentioned before in one of my blogs one of my favourite books is "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson, and in business I realise that for us to stay current we constantly need to Move Our Cheese around.  We need to embrace change, but I also realise that change is not always good, or should I say better.  There have been times that we tried something new only to find out that the old fashioned way was a better way to do it, somewhat like verbal communication for those really important moments in life. 

For now though I would like to welcome Hudson into our family, knowing that he will be loved by many people.  I would like to congratulate his parents Liana (who many of you know as she has written many of our blogs) and Sebastian, and also his Big Sister Kalana or fondly known as Lil K, as I know you will be the best big sister ever.  I would also like to congratulate his other grandparents Heather and Brian Rhodenizer.  Hudson we are thrilled to have you as part of our family.

- Mike