Welcome ... welcome

Today, in about an hour, I am going to try something I’ve never tried. I am going to try to address an issue before it becomes an emergency. This is something I’ve never really done before. With increasing frequency, but with no apparent pattern, when I sign into my computer in the morning I get stuck in the welcome mode: a blue screen, the word “Welcome” and, beside it, a circle that turns. And turns, and turns. This morning I spent more than an hour turning the computer off and then restarting, and being welcomed all over again, and I’m embarrassed to say that my life kind of passed before my eyes in slow motion as I contemplated the prospect of losing everything. Finally, I was granted access. I don’t know if it’s an issue with the hard drive, or the operating system, or a virus, or what it is. What I do know is that sitting here as my chest tightens and my stomach threatens to rebel is not something I can do on a regular basis. So I have the number for the computer repair service I’ve used a couple of times – for emergencies, of course – and I am going to call them at 9:30.