Summer short…

I wore a watch forever. The mechanism told me to go to work, to take a break and for how long, and to hit the sack.

            I grew tired of the bullshit. The watch found a new home in the drawer where things went to die. There wasn’t guilt in dumping the watch next to broken necklaces and bracelets that turned my arm green.

            I was free to take thirteen-minute breaks or sixteen minutes if the boss pissed me off. I snoozed for an extra fifteen or stayed up later if I felt like it without the constant reminder of where I had to be and at what exact time.

            I ate lunch at breakfast and breakfast for supper. I became a rebel that no longer listened to a dictator. I was a woman in charge of her own country. It was beautiful.

            Then my sister offered me her Fitbit. She upgraded to a newer, improved model???

            “Why would I want a Fitbit?” I asked.

            “To track your steps.” She said.

            “So, this watch gadget will not only make me an indentured servant to time but will also remind me when I’m lazy?”

            “Well, yeah.”

            I’m honest with myself and acknowledge when I’m lazy. I didn’t think that I needed a gadget that required charged and updated to help me. Still, Sis persisted in sharing (pawning off) the Fitbit.

            “You can have step competitions with other people.” She said.

            I witnessed my sister cheat her Fitbit by shaking her arm.

            “What kind of prize do I get if I win?”

            “You don’t get a prize.”

            “Then why would I compete with other people?”

            “To win?”

            Now Sis wasn’t quite sure about this competition thing either.

            I didn’t feel I had to compete with other people even if there were prizes. I could buy chocolate and cake, the things I coveted most. So why? If I indulged too much, I walked, simple. I did things because I wanted to or liked to do them and not because a watch, a gadget, or another person told me to.

            I’m a woman in charge of her own country. I fought hard to get here.

            I think Sis passed the Fitbit on to someone who was okay with living under a dictator.