Thelma's moment of high anxiety

Yesterday I went to find my charger because my computer was dying.  I plugged it in, but it didn't start charging.  

I fiddled with it.

I tried a different outlet.

And a different one.

I took off the extension part and tried the shorter cord.

It wasn't charging and my battery on this well loved nine year old computer was falling fast.

Imagine every TV medical drama you've ever seen, except I wasn't the hero doctor.  I was the orderly they grabbed out of the hall because no one else was available.

I hurried and grabbed the external hard drive that Adam bought for me with instructions to back it up often.  I plugged it into the computer.  It told me the last time I'd backed up was January (!) and it also told me it couldn't find the external hard drive.  I wanted to yell, "It's right here!" like the inexperienced orderly I am, but I just helplessly watched the computer die.

I decided to make a terrarium instead with my air plant.

It was a good distraction from my dead computer.

When Adam got home, he asked, "Did you back it up?"

I explained that I'd tried.

He asked, "When is the last time you backed it up?"

"January."

"Because it wouldn't work?"

"Because I forgot."

Adam seemed concerned.  Don't we just need a new charger?  Maybe, he said.  With Braeden's old computer, it wasn't the charging cord that failed but the part of the computer that received the charge.  Not fixable.

By then Simply Mac and Bad Apple were closing.  We went to Best Buy and bought a new charging cord.

And it worked!

And I backed up my computer!  This time that worked too.  I won't forget!  (I said that in January too.)

P.S.  I finished Gone with the Wind.  It was depressing and maddening because the characters are so misguided at times, but it also felt nostalgic because Olivia and I used to watch the movie.  A lot.