I have often mentioned that I’m a tech geek. I am self-taught and frequently get myself enmeshed in problems beyond my skill. I spend WAY too much time trying to make something (my WordPress website) work.

But I also am mysteriously good at fixing things. My husband will hand me his laptop when something is frustrating him and more often than not just by my touching it the problem disappears.

Part of it is my patience. I like computers and kind of understand what they want when they get hung up.  But some of it is just magic. I’m a computer whisperer.

The other day I offered to assist some friends whose internet had inexplicably stopped working. They had tried to contact actual technicians without success. I happily went to see if I could help.

I did the usual things– turn the router off and on, check to see if my phone could access their wifi. I fairly quickly determined that it wasn’t the kind of issue where my supernatural powers could put things right. It appeared to be an issue with the account– Telecom Italia (cue scary organ music).

We all looked at each other for a moment. We tried to think of all the people we knew who could call the phone company for us. Surprisingly, I was the person in the room who spoke the most Italian. Then I bravely (and uncharacteristically) volunteered to try to call them myself.

I was able to understand or guess at what the recording was asking for. I determined that a lot of what was being said to me was advertising while I waited on hold. I had faith that eventually a real person would come on the line. Then I would be put to the test.

When the human arrived I managed to explain the issue and learned that the account had indeed been cancelled for reasons too involved to go into here. It could not be reinstated without going to a phone store to start the process all over again.

Flush with the success of my fluency on the phone I volunteered to go along to set up the new account. Thank god the woman at the store spoke some English. We learned that even though all the lines and equipment exist at my friends’ apartment they must start the installation process over again (which will take at least 3 weeks at which point they will be back in the UK). They bought a temporary solution. I got their computers working on the new setup and rode off into the sunset.

I just received a nice note of thanks. It warms my heart to be able to give to my friends in this way. I don’t cook or entertain. I don’t make lovely handmade items. I fix people’s networks and get their smart TVs working. Sometimes that is a precious gift.