Out with the old and in with the new? Or, not... by Kat Magendie

I am typing on a brand new laptop. It has Windows Vista. It has a wider screen. It has fancy schmancy goobledoos on it that I haven't figured out yet. And funny, but it costs almost the same as the laptop I bought about six years ago, but with much better graphics, and more of those diddlebobbs and such...laptops, like other electronics, have become more affordable with more Stuff to figure out. I certainly am grateful for that.

Beside this Brand New Laptop sits my old laptop. It looks rather forlorn. It looks old and used and dusty. The missing o key sad. The screen dull and flat. Everything about the old laptop now looks dated and, well, a bit...shall I dare say it? Ugly. The new laptop is spiffy and clean and bright and full of hope and promise! I told the Dell representative, "It's like I have an old granny laptop." He answered, "Yup, you have the George Burns and we're sending you the Brad Pitt." We had a good laugh over that, but now, looking at that old faithful laptop, I feel a bit sad--not much mind you, as I know I needed to upgrade, but metaphorically sad.

I can't help but think of when we put "old things" away for "new things." And sometimes that happens to people. You can read above at the things I said about my old Dell and apply them to people as they age. Me included. It gives me a little bit of an uncomfortable feeling, thinking that way: personifying the inanimate object, and then further, applying it to Me.

I type right onto this "new post" instead of onto Word Doc, since I haven't downloaded all the programs yet, and since I haven't tried Word in Vista yet, and since I'm feeling around to see what all this thing will do...maybe it'll talk to me, tell me how glad it is I gave it a home (there I go again!). And as I type, I wonder if I'm making any errors, for typing directly onto blogspot, there isn't a spellchecker. I'm feeling reckless! My new laptop is giving me permission to do all manner of things! I am young again, just like my new laptop!

And again, I glance over at old faithful. A little slow. A little beat up. A little dusty and used. I was going to give her away (her? oh oh...) but, suddenly I think, "Why not keep it? Why, we could use her...um...it as I back up computer!" And it's as if I can feel the old laptop beside the new laptop give a little sigh of relief...it still has a home. It's full of my writing. It's got my fingerprints on it. It may have something important on it I need to find later on. Yes. Of course.

I am feeling generous. I am feeling like the lord of Old Laptop Land, where I make decisions about what will stay and what will go: It stays. There. I am feeling gratitude for old things, and for new things, and that I can keep something old around as long as it has breath...um...as long as it hums when I press "on." Ah.