Old Technology

My sister thinks it's hilarious that I still use this old relic of a sewing machine.  It's my mother's Singer Featherweight.  She got it early in her marriage before I was born, I think.  So it's over 50 years old.  She sewed all kinds of things on it - clothes for me, children's coats, drapes for our house in Memphis.  I have all the parts, all the attachments and I've used them on occasion. 

Now, we're a pretty technologically advanced family.  We have the iPods, the flat screen TVs, the cell phones with blue tooths and texting, the microwave drawer, and computers out the whazoo.  Tom is an inventor and, chances are, if you are using a computer to read this blog, you are probably using one of Tom's inventions.  So...it's not like I don't appreciate new technology.  It's just that, well, all I need to do on these drapes is sew a straight even stitch.  This little machine does exactly that.  It's a dependable little workhorse and I like it.

So, speaking of my sister and her hilarity...

take a good look at this picture.  When April was little and just learning to write her name, she wrote it on everything.  And I do mean everything.  Not only did she write her name on everything, she etched her name on everything.  I would arrive home from school (she's eight years younger than I) and walk into my room to discover that April had laid claim to my belongings by etching, scratching, and gouging her name onto things that clearly did not belong to "April".  Along with all of my furniture, this sewing machine did not escape the branding.  Look closely.  You might need to enlarge the picture by double clicking on it and tilt your head to the right.  See it?  It's right beside the gold embellishment on the bed of the machine.  It's all there.  The "A" without the crossbar looking like an arrow head.  She didn't quite get the loop on the "P", but the essence of it is there.  It was probably difficult for her little hand, in the awkward position it must have been in to accomplish this task, to exert enough pressure to scratch the loop into the finish of the sewing machine, through the paint, down to the metal so that there was no chance of it ever being covered up.  "R, I, and L" are clearly visible.

So, I ask you, how could I ever get rid of this little machine that has so much history and was so much a part of my childhood, that works perfectly, and that BELONGS TO APRIL!?