Reactions to an Apple

This brown box is sitting in my office. Inside is a black box. Inside that box is a silver sliver.

The secretary says, “You have a package…”, and my heart jumps to my throat as I run into her office to snatch it off her desk. “Thank you!” I call back as I race back down the hall to my space. First thing I must do is take pictures with the brown FedEx box that holds my new treasure. As my right hand is hitting ‘send’ on the phone, sharing the good news with friends back home, my left is already reaching for the scissors to slice open the seams of tape that separate me from my new toy. I remove the brown, cardboard corner protectors and slide out a black box. The top of that box is immediate removed and I sit staring down at my brand new Macbook Air. All that is missing from the moment is angelic voices and rays of light streaming into my eyes from within that white apple.
I reach for the tab and peek under the computer as I raise it slightly, then rapidly return it to its resting position and replace the guardian black lid. I am at a loss as to how this thing ended up in my hands, and what I am to do now. Guilt alternates with curiosity in the next moments as the lid is removed once again, and I stare at the perfectly packed expensive accessories under the laptop before replacing it once more. A fury of emotion results in the black box being secured under the cardboard restraints once more within the confines of the FedEx cage effectively locked with duct tape.
I reflect over last few years as my dinosaur of a Dell constantly needed attention and encouragement to continue its life, that I would jokingly say, “If I ever need to buy a new computer, I’m getting a Mac.” This flippant comment resulted from many things: I’ve never heard someone say they regretted getting a Mac. It’s impressive that people literally have had to make it a goal to create viruses for Macs. Time Machine is pretty cool – to have AND to look at. And let’s face it…of all the shiny things in this world Apple products are pretty attention-demanding.
Even with all this, when I resigned myself to the fact that the dinosaur wasn’t faking every time I opened the top and the screen went black, my Dell is very near and dear to my heart. It was easy last Friday to click “buy” on Apple’s website because it’s what I had trained my mind to expect when this time came. What I was not ready for was this brand new “shiny” walking into my brand new life and landing in my brand new office. As a creature of habit – spontaneous, yes, but habitual all the same – so much “brand new” can be a little overwhelming. The unknown is EXCITING. The unknown is NEW. The unknown is SCARY. The unknown is sitting in my office…At some point I may pick up the scissors again…

This brown box is sitting in my office. Inside is a black box. Inside that box is a silver sliver…that I bought a week ago…that I don’t know how to use.