Youtube? What Youtube?

At exactly 9:20 AM, the Glaser household weathered a Youtube crisis of epic proportions. While my friends in cyberspace have stared down the jaws of tornadoes the past two nights, hurricane Pamela nearly struck our home all because Youtube had the audacity to be down this morning! Whenever she tried to access the site, the words "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" appeared after Exploder tried to load it for her.

My first line of defense was to try Google Video but she would not accept any substitutes! Then, I decided to try tossing Pamela a softball by introducing her to the wonderful world of Mapquest. Pamela loves maps. When we lived in St. Cloud I bought a 1992 Hammond Ambassador World Atlas for only two bucks. Whenever we read books, we consult the atlas and mark all over it! On Thursday's trip to Wal-Mart, Pamela asked for a Large-Scale, Spiral-Bound Rand McNally 2008 Road Atlas. For the past four days, she has poured over the atlas, mapping out fantasy road trips!

I figured it might be worthwhile to try Charlotte Mason's idea of changing your thoughts. Pollyanna did this with her being glad game. In The Sound of Music, Maria chased the fears of thunderstorms away with a song about her favorite things. Anne of Green Gables diverted her thoughts to her favorite tragical scenes from literature. Perhaps, Mapquest might help Pamela forget the tragical loss of Youtube for a little while.

I spent a few moments showing her how to navigate through the site. The waterworks stopped. Pamela's face lit up as the magic of Maquest swept away her disappointment. Before long, she was planning trips to our old homes in cities like West Newton and St. Cloud. She mapped out trips to Detroit and Nashville, two places she has never been. When I came to check on her, she sat in rapture with the atlas in her lap and Mapquest on the screen!