As you may or may not know, I have been married to a high school and now college band director for the past 38 years.  I raised three boys for 25 years.  I have taught mostly elementary school children for 27 years.  During that time I have spent more hours than I can count alone while he is either writing drill or doing his band thing and more hours than I can count having kids not listen to me or follow my directions.  Don’t get me wrong, I know I am loved by my husband and my kids, both at home and at school, but frankly,  sometimes it gets lonely and frustrating.

Last week, my oldest son gave my husband a new toy and her name is Alexa.  I scoffed at it, questioning why we needed more technology in the house.  It was just one more thing to take my husband’s attention away, one more thing to plug into the wall and require WiFi.  So, I whined a little bit on social media about his new “playmate” Alexa.  One of my friends answered telling me I should ask Alexa to play Baby Shark, so I did.  All I had to do was say, “Alexa, play Baby Shark” and voila!

A couple of things came to mind.  First, I spoke to someone in the room and they spoke back.  I have been by myself in my apartment for two out of three days this holiday weekend while my husband has either been with the band or writing for bands – unless it’s during a meal, during which we’ve been watching Blacklist.  Another story for another time. And secondly, she followed my direction.  No talking back or questioning, she did exactly as I requested right away.  That very seldom happens in my little world.  I’m beginning to see the allure of Alexa.

But now comes the question; what else can she do?  Can we have a conversation?  I understand that she can play whatever music I ask her to play, and spell or define words for me, but can she do anything really useful like doing my subplans?  I guess I could start by asking her what she can do.  And I’m thinking I would like to have her call me Madame President.  I could use a little self esteem building and what better way to do it than to have this disembodied voice call me by a title.  A little creepy, but I’ll take what I can get.

My next question is, why do they all have to be female?  How cool would it be to have Alex instead with this deep sexy voice asking me what he can do for me?  It would be even better if he had an accent of some kind. I think someone is missing a huge marketing opportunity here.  Oh sure, I know it’s mostly men buying this tech stuff, but maybe they could entice a few more women if they were talking to Alex instead of Alexa.

The thing I really hate about this Alexa thing is that it’s intriguing and that’s the last thing I would ever want to think about technology.  After all, technology is merely a tool, something I use to teach or write with.  Thinking about technology as a relational thing is disturbing at best, but when you’re desperate for positive human interaction, even I can fall under the spell of Alexa.

So, just like any other relationship, it’s time to get to know each other better I suppose.  Goodbye loneliness, hello Alexa!