An Unexpected Gift

An Unexpected Gift   

Lately I have been afraid that it was inevitable that I was going to get up some morning soon and find this ancient computer dead.  Since I joined Gather, it has become the most important thing in my life. For over a year, I have awakened each morning eager to read and write for Gather. With the increase in the cost of living, and the decrease in my available resources, I could see that without a computer, life for me could become pretty dull. At my age enthusiasm for life makes up a big part of the reason to stay alive, and Gather has fanned my enthusiasm way beyond my expectations. I’ve been telling everyone I know how much this computer and Gather mean to me, and if it died, I would not be able to replace it.

A few days ago a friend called me with the almost unbelievable news that a group of my friends have chipped in together to buy me a NEW Dell computer, and as soon as it is built, it will be arriving at my door! Can you believe it? And I doubt that any of them even knew that my 85^th birthday is going to happen later this month. (Knock on wood!). I was speechless, and then tears came. To think that anyone would do that for me! I had no idea I had such kind and thoughtful friends. I hope that my expressed fears of losing this old computer didn’t seem that I was asking for help. I wasn’t. I was just protesting what was bound to happen soon, and the poor quality of life that awaited me afterward. There is a used computer someone has discarded that I might be able to acquire, but I don’t know enough to work with a faulty computer, and my computer guru, Daniel, got married and lives far away.

A brand new computer will be a Godsend to me. It may have a built-in sound system or whatever is needed to watch and hear videos. I’ll get my friend Rich, who took over my duties at the museum, to set it up for me when he has time. There is also a lot of data to be moved from the old computer to the new one. I bet the new one will be a lot faster, too. I’m hooked into my daughter Jane’s satellite system, and my computer reception should be a lot faster than it is. Everyone who sits down at my old computer says, “My God, this is slow”! For the next two weeks I’ll be peering out the window every time I hear a car to see if it is a UPS or FedEx delivery van with my gift.

The new Dell computer will make a huge difference to me, and it might even improve my writing. If it doesn’t, it won’t be because I’m not trying. It might be that some of my kind friends are reading what I post on Gather, and I want them to know their fine gift is not in vain. How else can I ever thank them enough? I feel like Nicholas Cage in that movie, “It Could Happen to You.”