The Crash of a Computer (Better Known as a Dear Friend)

My computer has been sick for a while now. But somehow, I thought she was stronger, that she would pull through. She fought hard and seemed to be getting better, fighting off each trojan and virus that had hit her in one mighty blow—even through my virus scanner and firewall. It seemed she had out maneuvered them all at last. I thought it was just a matter of time, of replacing missing DLL fills, damaged memories.

And then it happened. There was no loud warning cry, no tremble, no plea for help. She just simply froze up, locked up. I did the three key trick without doubt that the move would bring her right back. I was wrong. She shut down like normal, but never started back up. She tried, she sputtered, she blinked, she strained, but was only powerful enough to come back to life for seconds at a time.

A friend of my son was able to force her to reboot in BIOS or something of the sort. He then upgraded her to Windows XP. I watched with hope. He assured me all would be right. She would be saved and intact. But, in the end, he was wrong. Oh so very wrong.

The computer is up and working again, but it’s not the same. My old familiar friend is gone and there is a new yet-to-be friend in her place.

The new yet-to-be friend does have lots of memories from the old. But she didn’t catch them all. Including four years’ worth of e-mail folders, filled with research and articles and things even more important. Including a pile of messages that were in my in box, waiting to be answered that will now never be replied to. How rude I must appear to those waiting for those replies!

I know it could have been worse, that so much more could have been taken away with my old friend, like my manuscripts. So I'm trying not to be too sad about her untimely passing.