Sometimes something happens at 26 Clinton Avenue that is so crazy that I won’t believe it if I didn’t witness it with my own eyes – or hear it with my own ears – or not hear it with my own ears.

Our house is wired with speakers attached to an elaborate sound system – four zones, SiriusXM, Pandora, Apple Music, long playlists — super fancy, but last year we got an Amazon Echo and have found that it quickly became our go-to thing for music, facts, news, etc. It’s almost like she’s become a member of our family.

Alexa keeps us company as we eat our dinner, answering important questions like “What’s the weather gonna be tomorrow? and “What year did so-and-so win the World Series?” and “How many miles is it to New Orleans?”. She also plays us music — appreciating the JackO likes One Direction and Justin Beaver, I need some Son Volt and Cat Stevens, Anna is too cool to listen to music in front of the family, and Dan demands to hear Cake and Petty and Stones and My Morning Jacket and Bob Marley and … Alexa also keeps JackO entertained as he sits on the potty for longer than I will admit and I love that she’s willing to play me my podcasts while I’m folding the laundry or doing paperwork.

Alexa is so important to us that we make sure she joins us when we’re outside — we need music/podcasts/information with us while we garden or eat dinner al fresco. Last weekend we all enjoyed some time outside. Alexa seemed to have fun, but when I cleaned up at the end of the night, I got distracted. Somehow Alexa ended up spending the night out on the deck. In the rain.

When I found her the next morning I apologized, but she didn’t seem to hear me so I took her inside and dried her off. I apologized again, but she was still ignoring me. I got frustrated, unplugged her and walked away. I assumed that if we waited it out a couple of days, she would dry out and things would be fine. I hadn’t mentioned my mistake to anyone, figuring there was no need to share my gaffe, but yesterday I got caught. Dan got home from work and was asking Alexa to play the Grateful Dead. When she didn’t answer, he walked over to her, saw she was unplugged and turned to look at me. I had to admit that I had left her outside. Alone. Overnight. In the rain.

I tried to be optimistic, “I’m sure if I reboot her, she will come back to life.” So, I plugged her back in and went through the process of reinstalling her software. An orange ring spun on the top of Alexa and kept spinning like she was really trying. After a few minutes the ring suddenly turned blue – she was back!

Dan and I were so excited as we welcomed her back to the family, “Alexa, are you okay?” She spun and spun as if she could hear, but said nothing.

“Alexa, can you hear me?” Again that blue ring spun around but nothing came out of her.

“Alexa, can you hear me now?” Nothing.

We went on like this for a few minutes and then I looked back at the app on my phone and I could see our conversation. Apparently Alexa could hear us and was answering us — silently.

Are you kidding me?!?!? JackO – looks like you aren’t the only silent member of the family anymore.

Love, Your Friends at 26 Clinton Avenue – including our silent Alexa

PS I promise that I have never left the kids outside overnight. There was one night I forgot about the dogs, but that wasn’t really my fault and it wasn’t raining;)

PPS As I am preparing to hit send on this post, Alexa is in the news. Apparently she is listening to everyone and getting in a fair amount of trouble!!