This Computer is FINE! Why did the cat run over me?

A couple years ago, my daughter and I were complaining. In our family, just so long as we keep the complaints lighthearted, and make sure not to hurt anyone’s feelings, complaining isn’t a bad thing, really. It’s more in the category of a hobby. Anyway, we were watching television and complaining that so many companies simply assume people have computers---even laptops! We didn’t have a computer. Or a laptop. And we saw no need for either one. We had lived this long just fine without either one, and figured we could continue to do so for a long, long time.

Then our neighbor gave us a computer that a company had thrown out in order to upgrade their system. We felt like we had stepped into a sci-fi novel. So what if the computer took up nearly our whole kitchen table? It was that cool, gray computer-y color! Yes, it took our “new” computer 15 minutes to change a window. That was no problem. We just went and bathed one of our pets while we waited for the internet to change to email. After all, this was a computer! A real, flesh-and-blood---so to speak---computer! And it was ours! We were “hooked up” now, and nothing could spoil it---until we used the computers at the library. That was okay, though. They weren’t that much better than our computer.

Then my daughter began college.

She came home one day and looked at our computer with disgust. Noticing the look on her face, I asked her what was wrong.

My daughter hadn’t looked that disgusted since the time she smiled, and the dog licked her teeth.

When she told me that the computers at school actually changed screens in seconds---sometimes faster---I was shocked, but calm. “Well, all right. So our computer isn’t ‘top of the line’”, I said. “But at least we have a computer, right?” I smiled a weak smile. When my daughter looked at me, her eyes were huge with frustration. I knew she wanted to say something, but with the Mother-daughter thing, respect, etc., she just drew in a deep, deep sigh and answered, “Yeah, I guess.”

Computers are funny creatures.  You’re sure, absolutely certain, you don’t need one, don’t want one, don’t care…then---once you get one, it’s a whole different ball game.  A few weeks after my daughter’s deep sigh, she came home from school with an announcement.  “I’m taking us shopping today!”  I didn’t know about that look in her eye.  Was it determination?  Or some new form of insanity?  I decided to be diplomatic.  “Oh?  That’s nice.  Where would you like to go?”  Her jaw set.  The look in her eye became more intense.   I began to reach surreptitiously for the phone.  What was the name of that psychiatrist?  “We are going to get…a computer! “ My daughter stated.

 By that time, I was so relieved to hear that we weren’t going after ingredients for a homemade bomb, I practically skipped out the door ahead of her.  Besides, I had begun to notice that every time I got near the computer, my pets would suddenly rush outside!

 I suppose it could be coincidence…