Tuesday, June 19, 2012

To Have and Have Not

Well, my friends, the worst that I had feared has come to pass. My computer is indeed dead, and while the lovely people at Apple got me up and running again with a new hard drive, all of the information on the old one was lost.

To be honest, I'm strangely okay with it. Yes, I'm sad that I lost all my photos (hence the lack of any accompanying picture), as well as lots of personal and professional documents. I'm disappointed that I lost some of my favorite tunes, and all of my settings and bookmarks, but sometimes being cut off from the trappings of our everyday lives can be strangely freeing.

Matt and I are (still) in the middle of moving, and as I spend my days packing boxes, leaving newsprinted fingerprints all over our white cupboards, and generally trying to make the sprawl of our existence simpler, tidier and more compact, I'm struck by just how much stuff follows us through our daily lives.

If I'm honest, few of these things actually get used on a regular basis, and yet I find myself unable to part with them. Some have sentimental significance, but more often than not, it's my I'll-use-that-one-day optimism that keeps me holding on.

Losing my computer was frustrating - as far as the blog goes, I'm irked that I'll have to essentially start building up content and recipes from scratch - but the whole unfortunate experience taught me some useful lessons:

1. Nothing in life is permanent - not even the material things I hold so tightly (or the thirty boxes currently crowding my living room!)
2. Our lives are not defined by the things we have, but the things we do
3. It's possible (and kind of refreshing) to react rationally to the irrational
and finally,
4. Always, always back up your hard drive.


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2 comments:

  1. Mine spazzed out a while back and I had just backed up my photos! That was the only thing I really cared about...the rest wasn't a big deal! I hope that the move isn't stressing you out!!

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  2. I have just discovered your blog via Chaya's Bizzy Bakes, and your lovely Pineapple Macaroons. I'm sorry to hear about your computer; I'd be distraught if that happened. You are handling it beautifully, and you've raised some very important points - I particularly like number 2, and I'm going to work on number 3!

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