You should have this.

Do you know what this is?That's okay, I didn't either before the Christmas break. It's an external hard drive and it will save your life.

Here's the background story ... I had a laptop in college and during my time at seminary, this was the computer where I stored everything, my life. Every picture taken, every paper written went on this little machine. I understand that computers age faster than dogs, but I really had high hopes for this little guy, I thought it would last a long, long time (you see where this story is going don't you?).

Anyways, when Grayson and I got married, we didn't get the internet (still don't have it), but I held onto my computer. In fact, I kept it simply to download pictures and store more documents. Well, during our move last year I realized that my computer was getting a little old and finicky. My battery wouldn't hold strength for longer than 30 minutes and my power strip was starting to become faulty. It really didn't seem like the best choice to pay someone $60/hour to transfer all my pictures and documents onto a disc when I could do it myself, but sitting in front of my laptop for what seemed like would be 50+ hours, didn't sound fun either. So ... I did what any normal lazy person would do. I set my laptop aside, only to get to that task eventually.

I have no clue what came over me, but this Christmas break I decided was "the time" to accomplish this task. I decided I would settle down in front of the tv, get some hot cocoa and let the document transfering begin.

Wrong! This is what it felt like when I couldn't find my power strip, i couldn't turn my computer on and when I went to the emergency room/computer store the lady politely informed me that my hard drive was corrupt and the files were irretrievable!

What? No way? It was like someone had punched me in the gut! The first stage of the grieving process is denial, and denial is exactly what I felt. "Oh they don't know what they're talking about, I'll find a cord and it will work, they're crazy" etc ... Deep down I knew this couldn't possibly be true though, seeing as how they are a computer store, specializing in computers; nonetheless, I couldn't admit my life was gone for fear that Grayson would see a side of me that might not be attractive.

So, I initially ignored their request to get it fixed by a fancy computer store, but then became concerned that if I waited any longer, I might seriously lose the data. I researched and researched until I found the company in Silicon Valley who graciously said they would recover my life, er my files for a measely introductory rate of $700 (starting figure only). WHAT? My initial reaction was that that amount was ludicrous, but then that emotion was quickly followed by me getting online to check our bank account to see if I could manage this mere amount to retrieve my every memory. I'll admit, it was a deep internal struggle to determine whether or not my pictures and documents were worth that much money. Well actually, not really, the struggle was more like, "How can I present this to Grayson in a way that he'll go for it?"

All I could think about, and literally this kept me up at least three nights, were the pictures and documents that were on that computer. The images that came to mind that made me sick were the pictures of Grayson proposing to me, pictures from our honeymoon, times spent with my college roommates playing games, carving pumpkins, my 25th birthday, pictures of our first home etc ... To me, these things ARE priceless b/c they can't be recreated. Not to mention, every seminary course I took with all of my notes and papers that I couldn't re-write, papers that a) were really long, b) were really hard to write and c) would serve as documents needed if I ever considered getting a doctorate. Ugh ... you can imagine I was upset. But then by some Christmas miracle I remembered some discs upstairs that showed up during the move.

I didn't get too hopeful, for fear that I would be utterly disappointed, but I did find the discs and discovered their contents. It was discs full of the pictures from my computer!!! I guess one day in the old house I decided to be proactive and transfer the images, but had forgotten I did that. Thank goodness!!! I won't be able to salvage my graduate school documents, but really that's okay. I didn't really want a doctorate anyway! I have the pictures and that is all that matters. I fully intend to upload them to an online site, purchase an external hard drive and save the discs in a fire proof box at the bank! I'm not messing around with my memories anymore people, and neither should you!