I'd Like to Command Z That One ...

For the past couple of weeks our art classes have revolved around Photoshop, iPhoto and Picnik on the Mac.  My theory is that you're never to young to edit and never to young to become a Steve Jobs fan.

One day last week I was cooking dinner, Karis was deeply engrossed in her digital art when she announced:
"I love command Z."
"Pardon?"
"I love command Z.  It undoes what you did."
(read, "It undooz what you did."!)

You mess-up.
Command Z.

Typo.
Command Z.

Just all wrong.
Command Z.

It undoes what you did.

I responded to my little artist with this thought:
"Somedays I'd love have a command Z for life.  You know, when something doesn't turn out the way you want it, you could just 'command Z' it."

Remember, I was cooking dinner whilst this conversation was happening.
So weilding my big ole knife I pull a Zorro and zip-zip-zip draw a Z in the air.

"How about that?
If we really mess-up and need a do-over let's say, 'command Z'."

In walks Eden and the girls ask to join me with cooking so I send them both to the bathroom to wash their hands.  On the way to the bathroom I overhear this follow-up to our previous conversation:

K:  I like that.  I'd like to command Z the whole past month.  Well, everything except birthday parties.  I'll keep the birthday parties.

E:  What?  You'd really want to undo the whole past month?

K:  Yep, except birthday parties.

E:  I don't know.  I don't think you want to go around undoing everything that's bad.  Sometimes really good things come out of bad things.

K:  Nope.  I want to command Z it all, just not the birthday parties.
(I'll give it to her for sticking to her guns!).

E:  OK.  How about this, what if something really bad happened and when that really bad thing happened you met someone and they became your friend?  And then what if that person who became your friend invited you their birthday party?

K:  Uh-huh.

E:  Well.  If that bad thing didn't happen then you wouldn't have met that friend and then you wouldn't have gone to their birthday party.  HA!  See, it really isn't good to command Z everything, you might miss birthday parties.
(That final "ha" was a little spiteful and unnecessary, but it did make me smirk.)

So there you have it.  From the mouths of my babes.  Undoing the bad things in life isn't always the best.  A lot of times it's through those bad times that we find real joy - birthday party kind of joy.

It's funny how often my kids minister to me in ways and at times I least expect it.
This was one of those times.

Post Script:  When I google imaged "Command Z" is realized a world of computer geeks I thought only existed in Disney teeny-bopper movies and the Social Network.  Did you know that you can buy t-shirts, mugs and even necklaces that say "I heart command Z"?  I guess we weren't the first to reveal in the glory of two little keys on a Mac.