Bits, Bytes and Clothes That Are Too Tight

Hello Bella Nonna, I brought you a few things for the rummage sale. I had a big box of things but…


Come on in Jamila, I’ll put on a pot of coffee and you can tell me all about it.

Well it all started about a week ago. Terrel was watching the pet channel and someone made the remark that dogs start to look and act like their owner the older they get. I laughed and said the same goes for computers. Each day it takes me longer and longer to start up just like my computer. My computer has trouble storing and finding files. I too have trouble storing and finding things… like clothes that fit.

Terrel told me that my computer was becoming obsolete. If I wanted it to run faster I would have to spend money upgrading it or get rid of the useless files I have cluttering up my C drive. After some thought I decided to upgrade my computer would not only be expensive, but I know people who have spent a lot of money upgrading their computer and then regretting it because their computer never ran right after the upgrade. There was always something else they had to add to their computer to get it to perform the way they wanted… kind of like plastic surgery… once you get one thing done, you find something else to fix.

So I decided to get rid of all my useless clutter. How hard could it be? Well I’ll tell you Bella Nonna…

Wait Jamila let me pour the coffee and get us some cinnamon buns… Sorry for the interruption. Okay I’m ready, go on.

Hmmm, I thought where to start... I’ll clear out my computer files and my bedroom closet. I could probably get half my closet sorted while my computer booted up. Ha, ha that’s a little joke… my computer is not that slow. Well truth be told, I am not that fast.

I was going to be tough. If it didn’t fit… out it went, if I didn’t wear in the past year…out it went, if it looks awful on me… out it went. After about an hour I managed to part with three pairs of my “skinny girl” jeans, one itchy wool sweater, six blouses, two dresses my mother gave me… they made me look like an old lady, three of my college sweatshirts… they were so tight I looked like “It’s Pat” from the old Saturday Night Live show, and four pairs of slumpy sweat pants. I packed them into a box ready to donate them to the rummage sale.

Now it was time for my computer. I decided to start with my document files. The first thing on the list was three poems Aisha wrote for her 10th grade creative writing class. She wanted to delete the file right after she printed them out, but I thought we should keep them on file in case something happened to the original copies. Two weeks later Aisha wanted to delete them when she got her grades back; she had gotten two B and an A… you don’t delete two B and an A. It has been two years since she graduated from high school and over one year since I opened the file, so I figured it was time to delete them. I printed out three copies, one for me (because my original copies were all wrinkled from reading them and showing them off), one for Aisha and one for her baby book. Now I could simple delete the file and free up 8 KB right? Wrong! First my computer asked me which file I wanted to delete. With a slight pang of guilt I hit Aisha’s Poetry File. Then my computer asked me “Are you sure you want to send Aisha’s Poetry File to the recycling bin?” A zing went straight through my heart. I HAD printed out three copies, right? Okay I can do this, I took a deep breath and clicked ‘yes’. It was too late for regrets, they were gone. Next I deleted some recipes I downloaded from the internet that looked great but way too much trouble to make. I was on a roll… I deleted most of the silly pictures and sayings that people had e-mailed and I saved for some unknown reason and about 2 MB of sound files. I was so proud of myself; I decided to take the kids out to one of those pizza and video game places.

When we got home I decided to go on the internet and check my e-mail. I turned on my computer excited to see how fast it had gotten after I had delete all those files, only to discover that there was no change. I was just about to hurl my computer out the window when Terrel came to its rescue. He told me that I had to defrag my computer so it would run better. I sat down quietly next to him and watched him as he prepared to defrag my computer. “First you have to empty your recycle bin before I can defrag your computer”, Terrel explained. He clicked the icon and low and behold ALL of the files I deleted were there staring me in the face. “Mom, check to make sure you want to delete those file and then click on ‘empty recycle bin’ to clear out the files. I’ll show you what to do next.”

Okay, I can do this I thought… just point…click…and gone. Not gone! That nasty computer had the nerve to ask me, “Are you sure you want to delete these 123 files?” AM I SURE I yelled, Of course I am sure… I think I am sure…maybe I should take another look at the files to make sure I am really, really sure. I clicked on ‘Restore All Files’, shut down my computer and went upstairs to make sure I was really, really sure I would never wear those clothes I packed in the box for the rummage sale.

I feel guilty that I didn’t bring more things for the sale, but these were the only things I felt really, really sure I didn’t need any more.

Don’t feel bad Jamila, the clothes you brought are fantastic. The church ladies are going to be very grateful. Thank you so much for the donation.

Okay Bella Nonna, I see that twinkle in your eyes. What are giggling about?

I find it funny… all the clothes you’ve donated belong to your husband George