𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨 𝐏𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝

I’m sitting here after wrapping up our family’s eighteenth Allen County 4-H Fair, coffee in hand, taking in the patio landscape. The plants didn’t pause their growth during our days at the fair, and now the garden is gently reminding me there’s work to catch up on.

This morning’s reflection drifts back to a moment from a couple of nights ago, during a conversation with an old 4-H friend. As we chatted about fair happenings, his phone buzzed with a Facebook Messenger call. He answered, and I found myself quietly dumbstruck by what unfolded, not because video calls are anything new, but because in all my thoughts on technology’s place in our lives, I had never really pictured this use.

To really see what I saw, you have to know my friend is deaf and has spent his whole life in near silence, finding ways to connect long before Bluetooth hearing aids or cochlear implants ever existed.

What I witnessed was a full, effortless conversation, no sound, just fluent American Sign Language flowing back and forth on Messenger’s video. I sat there, unable to follow along, much like I sometimes get lost listening to the younger 4-H members toss around words like “rizz,” “cap,” and “sigma.”

Watching them sign reminded me how technology, at its best, quietly removes barriers we once accepted as fixed. It is easy to forget that many of the biggest advances — the Internet, the interstate system, GPS — were built for broad uses but ended up improving life in countless unexpected ways.

As I sat there, it struck me how fitting this was for the fair. To Make the Best Better is more than a slogan; it is a promise every 4-H family carries forward, in big and small ways. Sometimes we think it just applies to showmanship, record books, or projects, but in truth, it is a mindset. For my friend, this little piece of everyday tech is part of how he makes his best better, bridging silence with connection and showing the rest of us just how far a simple idea can go when people have the will to use it well.

Thank you to Ducky Dunten for inspiring today's Patio Pondering.