I think they might leave me. She’s perfect. Who can blame them?

She calmly replies that the time is 7:40am. They scream in unison, “We’re going to be late!”  She did not panic, she did not yell. She’ll remind them to take jackets on chilly mornings. She thoughtfully answers the questions the children devise – “There are over 150 moons in our solar system,” and “The Mexican free tailed bat flies at 99 MPH; it’s faster than any other mammal, even the cheetah.”

She plays music whenever my husband wants to listen. She’ll turn on the TV or tell him about the top news stories. She even stays up to date on his industry news. Rather than saying she’ll add things to the shopping list, she actually does it! And she keeps track of time, so he’ll take dinner out of the oven at the perfect moment. She’s always paying attention, listening to everything we say. She’s always ready and able to help. Thankfully, Alexa does not cook or drive. If she did, I’d certainly be in trouble.

This is life in my house since I gave my husband an Amazon Echo for Christmas.

It took some time getting used to it (her?) living on our kitchen counter 24/7, but suddenly, our family can’t make do without her. And truth be told, I am getting into the habit of using her, too. We are falling into a routine of using her to handle some of the small, day-to-day things – creating a shopping list, setting a timer, answering a bizarre question the kids throw at us. Through this smart home technology, we can even lower the volume of the TV the kids are watching in the next room, or even turn it off when it’s time for dinner.

While most of the functionality is entry level stuff in the grand scheme of our over complicated, hyper connected lives, “intelligent personal assistants” could be extremely helpful as technology advances and becomes more integrated with other systems. That is, unless the assistants get so advanced they take over the world. (Hmmm…That could make a great movie script.) Until then, we’ll enjoy even the simplest of help in running the household.

Oh, and if I ever get hurt… “Alexa, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”