27 Minutes...

Technology in a word: cool...two words: very cool. Admittedly easy to say as a baby of the '80s.

Enter my grandparents...just a couple of kids in their 80s.

Although they are not the most tech savvy duo, they have always had cool gadgets. To their benefit, they have a doting granddaughter willing to teach them how to use them.

Over the years, I have color-coded remotes with stickers, optimized audio output of various equipment, and, a favorite of my grandfather's, programmed in-car garage door openers.

One day I received a phone call from my grandparents. They had recently been given a progressive scan DVD player as well as several choice DVDs that they were excited to watch with my great aunt and uncle. My Grandfather asked, "LIZ. We are trying to watch this movie. How do we do it?"

What a loaded question.

At the time I was away in college and could only help them by phone. First I assembled my team. My great aunt would put the the DVD in the player. My grandfather (keeper of all remotes) would stay on the phone for instructions on buttons to push. My grandmother would keep the flashlight steadily focused on the remote control. And, my great uncle would watch the screen for visual progress.

27 minutes later...roughly the amount of time spent buying popcorn and watching previews in the movie theater...voilà! The DVD menu was successfully navigated, and the feature film began for their viewing pleasure.

Lesson learned. If four 80 somethings want to watch a DVD, it requires the instruction of one twenty-something, a line of communication, a flashlight for vision assistance, and a mere 27 minutes.