But what I found lurking on the very dusty shelves made me take time to ponder.
Back in 1990, as good and thoughtful parents we purchased a very expensive set of World Book Encyclopedias for our kids. And for several years, I dutifully upgraded the set with the yearly Yearbook. And then right afterwards, the internet took off. And nobody ever opened the books again. Some of the yearbooks are still wrapped in plastic. What does one do with these? My friend Amie told me today that Goodwill won't even take them. They are that obsolete! She is thinking of just sticking hers (she has two sets) into the recycling bin on trash day. Oh my, that just doesn't sound right. But, my gosh they do take up a lot of room.
Another couple of books I found were Thomas Brothers map books. When was the last time I used one of those? Helloooooooo! We have Mapquest. The books don't tell us how long it will take to get where we are going. And it is pretty hard to figure the mileage with the books, let alone trying to find the right page to turn to.
So what is the next item that will become obsolete or useless in 20 years?
Our fancy sewing machines. It could happen. My 20 year old embroidery machine is practically useless.......can't get parts to it anymore. We will be laughing at our primitive iPhones. You can be sure of that! Our computers will be so small, we will take them everywhere we go. And our children will be saying "Remember when..."
2 comments:
There is something to be said for old fashion mechanical sewing machines...love my featherwieght and my old mechanical New Home (now Janome). Although I still prefer a regular map...lets me see what else is out there.
do you have a Freecycle list in your area? there might be someone who want the encyclopedias, or who might be collecting for overseas schools, etc. Our library bookstore (all donations) will only accept reference materials if they're less than 10 years old, or more than 50!
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