I love the story of the little girl who goes out for a day on the town with her big green pocketbook. At the beginning of the day, the purse is empty. As the day goes by, though, she fills the pocketbook with goodies, mementos and special reminders of the day. When she gets home, she finds her pocketbook is missing. She left it on the bus."My whole day was in there!" she moans. Lucky for her, the bus drivers swings back by and drops off her pocketbook with all its goodies still inside.
Happy ending.
I thought that's how my story would end. My computer was my pocketbook. When I got it a year ago, it was empty of content but full of possibilities. I filled it with stories and pictures, slide shows, spread sheets and homework assignments. It was just starting to feel comfortable to me. And then it crashed.
"My whole year was in there!" I moaned, but not too loudly. After all, the girl in the story got her pocketbook back. Yay for her.
I waited patiently for a month. Today, I got my computer back. Only, it's not really mine. None of the stories or pictures or any of the other items I'd carefully placed inside came back with it. My "pocketbook" has been emptied. My hard drive was irreparable, the data irretrievable.
What seemed so full of hope and possibility a year ago now feels empty and stripped.
Even though all is lost, all is not lost. I'm a writer, after all. I've got more words where those came from. But the thought of losing a whole year of my life has me in mourning. Where is the heroic bus driver who will return all my missing thoughts to me?
If you're looking for me, I'll be holed up in my room, trying to recapture Roberta's story before it escapes me. It was brilliant if I remember right. Who's to say the fresh draft won't be even better?
Maybe it wasn't in my pocketbook after all. Maybe it was in my imagination.
4 comments:
Been there, done that. Backing up computer as we speak.
So-o-o-o-o Sorry!! I was really a-hopin' hard that your stories, at least, would somehow survive. As I read your report my shoulders just sagged and I let out an enormous , deep, sad sigh. Do you have a new hard drive in it now?
I know that you will find the story and recreate it, and it will be even better, but I lament your loss of time and effort. I also know that you never give up on a good project. Hang in there.
Oh, Patty. I'm so terribly sorry that you lost a year's worth of writing, photos, and other creative data. A number of years ago my hard drive crashed. We were able to salvage most everything from it, but all of my pictures of my one and only trip to Washington DC were lost. I still occasionally grieve over them. Again . . . so sorry.
I'm so, so sorry, Patty. Yes, the second version will be even better!!
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