It is usually quite the challenge for me to write a humorous piece but every so often I feel compelled to try. Recently, I had a long night working on my old laptop computer to complete a certain task assigned to me.  It was a very, long  and frustrating night but afterward, I felt I had a rather comical tale to tell. It is interesting how, God helps me see humor in a trying situation. I hope my silly story here helps you to have a small laugh and a smile today:

One night I stayed up late as I had a computer date.

A task I must complete so I typed and typed upon that screen.

I finally had all my typing done and time for the printing to begin.

Easy task I thought: just tether my computer to my printer

And then tell my computer to go while watching the paper smoothly flow.

But lo, I found I was very wrong for I pressed ‘print’ and no printing had begun.

Computer and printer would not communicate so I wailed with no time to waste.

I looked again upon the computer screen which reported an urgent message to me;

It seems I needed just the right driver to finish connecting to the printer.

The driver was a software program instructing my printer how to run.

That driver was needed I well know to tell my printer to print and go.

But where was that driver I had no clue; I searched and search until I was weary blue.

With no driver I would not finish on time, I wouldn’t be done by the determined deadline.

So dejected, I sat on the floor and wailed and cried a little more.

Oh where did that driver run off to? No time to go AWOL as we have important work to do.

My computer demanded his presence; he mustn’t go missing; he cannot be absent.

Finally it dawned on me just where that sneaky driver might be.

I hurried to my wearied feet and lo I found him silently hiding from me.

Quickly I opened the CD-ROM drive and set the driver firmly inside.

Soon computer and printer could communicate and begin printing with no time to waste.

So I waited in hope and anticipation for pages of printing to begin.

But instead of humming like a well oiled machine a new warning appeared upon my screen:

“Something is wrong with your printer”.  I circled my computer and muttered,

“Your message is no help, Computer, for you don’t tell me what really is the matter.”

Suddenly my computer spoke aloud. So startled was I that I almost jumped into the clouds.

In unfeeling tone, my computer spoke to me, “Look at the message on the screen.”

I began to tremble and fear for my computer now had a voice and ears.

Meekly I returned to my seat and studied the message on the screen.

A problem occurred with the ink. Oh what a bother, what a stink.

First they were in reverse order; the color was in the black slot while black was place of color.

Then they were not correctly placed as I had re-inserted them with such haste.

Finally, the ink was too old and too dry so needed new cartridges; a new supply.

Thankfully I had new ones; a few spare which were stored nearby with gentle care.

So, I  retrieved and inserted them in. Then I waited anxiously for the printing to begin.

It finally started, oh great joy I felt. Soon would end my long night of toil.

As each page passed through the feed, my monotone computer would dutifully repeat:

“Printing started, printing complete. Printing started, printing complete…”

Finally the last page passed through and there was no more printing left to do!

Sleepily, wearily, I climbed into bed with the voice of a talking computer stuck in my head.

In the blessed silence, I fell asleep being thankful that my task was finished and complete.

Tomorrow will arrive soon; another day to face a new hurdle, a new challenge, along the way.