23 september 2006
Ypsidixit Inundated with Beauty
YPSIDIXIT was showered with blessings today and is humbled. A kind reader sent her the picture of this beautiful old phone and asked if she'd be interested in buying it. Y. regretfully declined, since, as she told the kind reader, she could not afford to buy so beautiful an item. Imagine my stupefaction when this generous soul offered to GIVE it to me, in return for a lunch at the Bomber!
In the week leading up to this meeting, Y. excitedly referred to this generous gentleman, to friends, as her "phone opa." He spotted me right off, as soon as I entered the Bomber this morning. "I recognized you by your left foot," he said, referring to an old post from last March that included a photo of my bare foot in a nature preserve north of town. Y. had to laugh.
This gracious older gentleman from Tecumseh had brought a friend, another kind reader of this blog. Y. felt shy and humble to know that her tiny blog is of sufficient interest to warrant the attention of far-flung readers way out of Washtenaw County. We had a good time chatting about the Bennett boathouse, the Tucker car industry, and subjects various and sundry. Y. felt shy to meet strangers but also felt glad to make new connections.
We lingered a long time over coffee. The best part came at the end, when we left. Y.'s generous older friend gave her this astounding phone, and she hugged her phone opa in gratitude. He gave her a tiny kiss on the cheek. Two, actually, since I hugged him twice. Those small kisses were the single most meaningful benefit I've received from my history of blogging. Y. lost her own Opa back in the 80s. Imagine how grateful I was to find a new one. Y. reverentially packed the lovely phone in her bag to take home. I tested it later. Works perfectly. It's the coolest item imaginable, and will displace my sunflower-yellow rotary phone as my primary phone. I have to hang it up on the wall tomorrow after finding a stud with my electronic studfinder. Oh, how I love this beauty.
Y. went home, picking up 100 pounds of potting soil on the way for my indoor winter gardening project, which is my assigned project to do before the next sustainability group meeting. At home, I found while perusing email that the gentleman who'd expressed interest in picking up my Freecycled moped could come by today. But he had a bonus in store. He offered me a Dahon folding "Mariner" bike that he intended to put on Freecycle but offered to me first, sub rosa. Y.'s jaw dropped to the floor.
Now, Dahons are the upper echelon of bike, like Trek or Diamondback. Normally, they'd be totally out of my price range. Y. has many times admired the Dahons she's seen in AA and longed for one of her own. A folding bike! Perfect for trips! Top quality!
Y. had the pleasure of meeting this generous gentleman when he came by to pick up the moped. His son, a very nice young man, seemed excited by the moped and Y. hoped he'd get good use out of it. Y. was dumbstruck when this gentleman wheeled the Dahon into her front yard. Oh, mercy. So nice a thing? For me? Oh, it was beautiful. A matte blue finish and light as a feather with an aluminum frame. Y. was agog. All it needs is a wee derailleur adjustment; Y. plans to take it to BIT for this tricky repair next week. 
Y. later found in her email inbox a historical photo from her phone opa showing the Tucker car assembly line, which we'd talked about over lunch. Y. scrutinized the photo closely, remembering the lunch-comments about Tucker being an innovator in including seat belts and a pop-out windshield and other safety features years before the Big Three were coerced into doing so.
Today was all about the evanescent connections of blogland made real. About the generosity of former strangers. Y. feels practically drowned in blessings and is thrilled by her new phone and bicycle.
Posted by ypsidixit at 23 september 2006 18:32
Comments
From Y.'s phone-opa:
"I know I enjoyed the little smooches as much as you did and I am proud that
you would think of me as your Opa. Feel free to use that term on me as
often as you wish. Maybe we will have occasion to meet again. If not, this
meeting will hold me for a while. See you later. Oh, and I just saw today's
BLOG. Thank you for the kind words."
What a sweet response. Y. got an opa! Y.l is blessed.
Posted by: Laura at 23 september 2006 20:23
What especially charmed me about these two gentlemen was that despite their being a bit older, they were all over the blog scene and digital photos and emailing attachments and whatnot. They grew up in a radically different time, yet they'd adapted themselves to the latest technology. I thought that was very cool.
Posted by: Laura at 24 september 2006 13:24
I think it is easy to assume that "older" means "technologically incompetent." I have found that some of the best computer users I know are older. My sister's mother-in-law first touched a computer when she was 76. Her first attempts at e-mail were sweet, but betrayed her lack of knowledge about computers (she didn't know about word-wrap, for instance, so typed only messages that could fit into one line like a telegram). Six months later, she was a computer whiz with four e-mail addresses: one for genealogy sites, one for family, one for porn/aliens/god-only-knows-what, and one for shopping. After curiously checking out various porn sites, she dismissed them in one fell swoop, saying "there isn't anything there that is new to me." Now, at 83, she keeps in touch with friends and relatives all over the world via e-mail, spends much of her day web surfing, and has a pretty nifty side business selling yard sale finds on eBay. Not to mention that she just got back from visiting her best friend in South Africa, a woman from Florida in her late 70s who met her husband (also in his late 70s) on a risque cartoon web site that he runs from South Africa. They conversed over e-mail for a few years, she moved to South Africa, and they have been happily married for five years now. The internet isn't just for the cool kids!
Posted by: Juliew at 25 september 2006 10:57
Esteemed Y., you richly deserve these treasured items & generosity due to the joy you bring to all with your blog. What goes around, comes around! Truer words were never spoke! (No pun intended, er.)
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