Oct 26

Today we received a package of goodies in the mail courtesy of Oma. It included little baggies of Halloween treats and of course they were happily received by everyone at my house. But what I enjoyed most about this particular care package was the box it came in. Behold:

This, my friends, is the box which contained an original “Digi-matic-P8 Portable Electronic Calculator”! Is modern technology not a wonder to behold???

It’s hard to grasp the actual size of this marvel of technological ingenuity without something to compare it to, so I grabbed the closest thing I could find to give you some perspective.

A calculator that was as big as a bunch of bananas! Or a toaster! A frying pan! Amazing! I wouldn’t be surprised if some people thought a calculator a silly investment when it is as big as a dinner plate and one already carries a decent calculator around on one’s shoulders.

Apparently my father purchased this calculator in 1975 for more than an iPod shuffle costs today. I haven’t asked him but I’m guessing it was useful to him as a teacher. My father is the original early adopter. (Actually I don’t know if this is true. How long have calculators been around? I could google it but I’m ok with not knowing some things!)

Of course I had to tease my mom about this old box, but in truth, considering how old it is, it’s a great sturdy box and still perfectly useable despite some wear. Much better than the kinds of packaging most items come in these days. It seems like a shame to throw it into the recycling bin. I think I need to find a way to give it a new purpose.

Like fill it with 40 pocket calculators.

Oct 20

Avery got her ears pierced last week. This probably doesn’t seem like a big deal to most people. But if you know my daughter you know she is pretty much vehemently opposed to being punctured. Period.

She has never been the type that you have to drag kicking and screaming into the doctor’s office for her vaccinations or flu shot. Instead, she frets quietly, working herself into a private mental frenzy. Almost more heartbreaking than a physical outburst is the obvious terror on her face and the clear mental agony and the tears squeezing out of the corners of her eyes as she prepares for these kinds of shots.

So ever since she learned about the possibility of ear piercing she was 100% committed to never allow such violence to be perpetrated on her earlobes. I was content with that. I figured at some point she’d probably change her mind but I certainly didn’t feel the need to try and convince her otherwise.

And then, in what we’ve come to recognize as Avery’s way, she came from school one day and out of nowhere announced she wanted her ears pierced. After seeing there are some fun things about wearing earrings, and I guess a little bit of peer envy, she decided she was willing to put herself through the ordeal of getting the piercing done.

I did some research about piercing options in our area and on the advice of several friends I realized that there is a very strong case for doing piercing with a needle as opposed to the “gun” that a lot places use these days. Cleaner, safer, and less painful. But how to convince Avery that a needle would be better than the gun when she is terrified of needles? Riiiight.

You know those moments when you just couldn’t be more proud of your child for one reason or another? I had a moment when I watched her face her fear of needles and bravely sit herself down in that chair and allow someone to violate her earlobes! I don’t know if it’s the earrings or the maturity that I saw in her when she got them, but she looks so much older to me!