Last night my microwave died – this might not seem like very important news or an impetus to write an entire blog post over but it is. It really is.

The Microwave in question was a basic 1200 watt Sanyo. It was black and nondescript, it had a wonky open button that often got stuck and required 2 hands to get in to. What makes this particular appliance special it that I bought it, on clearance (as a returned item missing the box) in 1994. For those of you that are math challenged that was 26 years ago – twenty six! That microwave and I had a relationship that outlasted well nearly all of my relationships. That microwave was old enough to take to a bar and buy a beer and up until the very end it was a work horse, it could heat a cup of water up in 30 seconds and cook an entire spaghetti squash in less than 15 minutes. In a time when small appliances are so short-lived it feels like you rent them rather than buy them this Sanyo was a relic of a bygone age (I do in fact recognize that writing that sentence also makes me a relic of a bygone age). It died without fanfare or dramatics, it simply stopped working in the middle of heating up a cup of coffee – it stopped so abruptly that I thought the electricity had gone out.

I realize that I may be abnormally attached to small electronics. I still have the same blender that my parents had in the house that I was born in to – a heavy glass monstrosity that can still crush ice with the best of them, not that I ever use it. I can’t remember the last time I needed to blend something – that’s what Jamba Juice is for. Also until just a few years ago I had been hauling around my alarm clock from my childhood bedroom, this alarm clock was so bright that I could read books by it and as a small child I remember doing just that for hours after my allotted bedtime. The alarm clock stopped working years ago and in the end was just a pile of broken pieces but it was still a sad day when I finally threw it in the trash. When you consider all the times I have moved in my life this is a serious commitment most likely bordering on psychosis.

I do not know how to truly honor this Sanyo, I know many people would simply throw it out and make a trip to best buy and move on but I am thinking that a nice burial plot out behind our shed might be a fitting place or perhaps a new life as a planter box. It is a good thing that my husband is a patient and understanding person.