I had a few issues over the last few days.

I’m sure there could be a strong case made that I have tons of issues anyway, but I’m talking about specific blog hosting issues, so let’s leave me out of this just for now.

I was receiving error messages when I was working on some of last week’s posts.  As they were only showing up in the back end of the administrative section, I chose to ignore them because only I could see them. This is akin to what I do if the car starts to make a funny sound, I simply turn up the radio. La, la, la, la!

Besides, I also think it’s a bit of a joke that when I build a post I sign in as the Administrator. I feel like my title should be secretary, no, that’s still too knowledgeable, more like the one they send for coffee or something. But administrator? I think that lofty title should be saved for someone who actually knows what they’re doing.

Anyway, the error messages were spreading a little, showing up in odd spots and now coming in bright red colours, so I finally contacted HostGator, and voila, they fixed one, then the other and finally, everything was done.

Which is when Kevin pointed out that when he tried to link to my blog, there was a Full-Page error message and my blog had disappeared altogether. Yikes. When I tried to link to my blog from my Facebook page, I was getting the same thing.

HostGator was so lovely and patient. “Did you try clearing your cache?”

My who? Isn’t that a big pile of rocks where you hide your pemmican whilst you’re mushing your dog team across the snowy tundra?

It seems this is a different type of cache. Our helpful computers store our visits to various sites, so in spite of the fact that my blog was now all fixed, both Kevin and I were looking at a version from how it had looked when we had last visited it while it was still broken. (I’ve added HostGator’s link and explanation here so that if you’re so inclined, you can empty your cache too:)

I did what they said. It was pretty darned easy. I clicked the link that said – Empty Cache. Even the coffee-fetching-peon can handle that.

Suddenly, everything was fresh and new again. No old images of how things were. A fresh start, a new beginning, the first day of the rest of my life!!

Now. In my version of the world I see absolutely every single thing as a metaphor. It’s just how my brain connects the dots.

So of course I was wondering if there was a way to empty the cache in my brain. If I did that, I would be able to see each person I meet with an open mind, a vulnerable heart and no preconceived expectation of what they’re about.

I don’t want to have the clutter in there that says, “Oh that John. He is always that way.”  or “Jane reacts the same way to everything.”  It locks both myself and the person I’m seeing into a predetermined dance that is painful for all concerned.

It leaves nothing open for the inevitable change that we are all going through and capable of. And it certainly leaves no space for the possibility of redemption.

My goal for today is to empty my cache, to meet myself and others where they are today, right now, at this moment.

My goal is to not hold people to a past version of themselves and I hope others will offer me the same gift, but at the very least, I am offering it to myself.

Don’t you love HostGator?