A Little Too Sentimental, But I Like That

I bought a new alarm clock on Tuesday. As I unplugged my old alarm clock in order to carry it out to the garbage, I was hit with the realization that I have had the clock since I was twelve years old. I will state for the record that I am a very sentimental person and I sometimes get too attached to inanimate objects (I'm going to have be sedated when my parents end up selling their house). As I looked at the clock, I realized that it had been there, right beside my bed and had 'watched' me wake up for the last sixteen years (and I don't mean watch in the 'Big Brother'-conspiracy sense). It watched me go through puberty and all the ups and downs that go along with that terrible phase in life. It watched me when I thought my heart was being broken when I discovered that the boy I had a crush on didn't reciprocate the feelings. It watched as I tried to figure who I was and where I fit in. It watched me dance as my taste in music changed from The Ramones to Sarah McLachlan to Green Day. It watched me graduate from elementary school, junior high, high school and university. It watched as I learned what real love and real heartbreak feels like.

When it did it's job properly, it woke me up on time for job interviews, doctors appointments, driver's license road tests, school exams, road trips and all the other goings-on of daily living. The life cycle of my alarm clock is almost comparable to that of a human. When the clock was new, it was excited to show off what it could do. It wanted to play all night and it would show it's liveliness by turning on in the middle of the night, at full blast. I remember the one night when the alarm clock must have wanted to sneak out with its friends because when I woke up in the morning, it was in its usual spot...except it was upside down. I banished it from having contact with my stereo for the rest of the week. Then, as the clock grew with age, it started to settle in to a predictable routine. It went off in the morning, every morning, just as it was programmed to do. It tuned in to each and every radio station loud and clear. Its volume dial responded instantly to my touch. But as time passed, the clock's buttons began to get smoother. The writing was starting to wear off. It couldn't pick up as many radio stations as it used to. Its volume dial would react unpredictably. Sometimes it would be on full blast and when I would reach over and barely touch the dial, it would completely shut off. And then it totally quit doing its job (which is the biggest reason for replacing the clock). It could no longer wake me up in the morning. So what do we do with old things that can't do their jobs anymore? We retire them. But I just can't seem to bring myself to throw the clock in the garbage. It doesn't seem fitting to do that to something that has faithfully been a part of my life for the past sixteen years. But it is just an appliance. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to bring myself to place it in the garbage bin. And maybe Mike can play the funeral bagpipe song while I'm doing so. Oh, heaven help me when the refrigerator quits. :)