Today is a big day for the O’Brien Family. Today is Steve Jobs Day.

To celebrate the grown ups are getting new iPhones and the kids are getting the old ones (minus SIM cards).

I had an interesting conversation with Aidan about Steve Jobs the week he passed away. We had just finished reading the Magic Tree House book Monday with a Mad Genius about Leonardo da Vinci. He asked if there was anyone like da Vinci alive now. Steve Jobs was the first to come to mind. In an eerie sort of coincidence he passed away later that week.

We talked about how Apple’s inventions helped so many people through communicating and staying connected. He got it having used my MAC to talk to Maureen in Canada through two Masters Degrees and chat with me during last year’s conference trips to New Orleans and Chicago. We also talked about people who have trouble communicating and the use of the iPad for people recovering from strokes- a personal experience for our family in this last year. He even connected the use in classrooms with children who cannot verbalize or do not yet understand English.

The idea of “think different” also resonated with him. It is a very Montessori concept and a very 21st century skills concept. How cool for Aidan and Brendan to be alive to know who Jobs was. And they did. The iPad launch and the uniform of Steve Jobs were recognizable for Aidan.

Our kids do not know a world without digital music and pictures, laptops or iPhones. The idea of no Internet, no home computers and no connection other than a landline telephone is pre-historic to them. Their lives are marked by the digital age.

So happy Steve Jobs Day. Here’s to more “crazy ones.” Tribute