It all started with a tiny tickle in the back of it’s throat. That funny indescribable feeling that something wasn’t quite right, but you couldn’t put your finger on it. It would stall, as if it seemed to have to think a moment about the next movement, but it was good at hiding it’s imperfections. Quick to cover up it’s mistakes, until finally one day it became very apparent that my desktop computer was showing it’s age. It froze, just simply stopped doing anything, that annoying blink of the cursor no longer visible. After a restart, it seemed to recover, to pull it’s self together and function like it used to in it’s younger glory days.
Like a old dog, it will wheeze, and groan when asked to do new tricks. Photoshop is particularly hard for it now. It takes a long time to recover from a trip to that program. I know it’s warning me, “my time is up, I’ve had a good run, I need to retire now.” But like a old dog, who needs a final trip to the vet, I can’t bear to part with it. This is our first computer, our first foray into the wonderful world of being in touch, and a step onto a hiway of information of such proportions we could never have previously dreamed about. It’s life span is almost over, I have over 20,000 photos on it, [all backed up of course]. And memories, fond memories of bringing it home for the first time. How proud we were to finally get a computer, how in awe of what it could do, how overwhelmed with what we had to learn.
I can’t bear to part with it, no matter what the techs tell us, “you’ve had a good 5 years, that’s a long time for a computer.” It’s part of the family, it’s our first one, we love it. The laptop will do in a pinch, but I don’t enjoy working on it, I need a bigger screen, I need a real keyboard. Compared to the PC the laptop feels like a toy. And the PC is part of our family, and yes, I guess it’s like a beloved pet. And I probably will cry when it finally gives up the ghost.
I think that it deserves at least a few tears, don’t you?