Peg Herring's Blog - Posts Tagged "keeping-things"
The Noah Syndrome
Why, when we buy something new, do we always keep the old one for a backup? Is having two of everything somehow a hedge against being left with nothing?
I threw away an old dustpan this morning. Now I have only one. What if it breaks? (For those of you who don't even one ONE dustpan: I like to sweep. I like to see the dirt, cat hair, and apple stems pile up in the middle of the floor and then I like to whisk them away.)
My husband is worse than I am, going beyond Noah's two and tending toward the Coneheads' mass quantities. Our optometrist asked if he had a spare pair of glasses for his upcoming trip to Canada. He replied that not only does he have his previous pair, he's held onto the pair before that. Probably can't see out of them, but they're there if he needs them.
And if he can find them. That's the crazy part of keeping spares of everything. Are you really going to hunt through the basement, the garage, or the cupboards to find the older version of the thing you just broke or lost, or (admit it!) are you going to get in the car and go buy a new one that's unscratched, up-to-date, and in style?
Noah had a reason for collecting two of everything. I'm not sure why the rest of us do it.
I threw away an old dustpan this morning. Now I have only one. What if it breaks? (For those of you who don't even one ONE dustpan: I like to sweep. I like to see the dirt, cat hair, and apple stems pile up in the middle of the floor and then I like to whisk them away.)
My husband is worse than I am, going beyond Noah's two and tending toward the Coneheads' mass quantities. Our optometrist asked if he had a spare pair of glasses for his upcoming trip to Canada. He replied that not only does he have his previous pair, he's held onto the pair before that. Probably can't see out of them, but they're there if he needs them.
And if he can find them. That's the crazy part of keeping spares of everything. Are you really going to hunt through the basement, the garage, or the cupboards to find the older version of the thing you just broke or lost, or (admit it!) are you going to get in the car and go buy a new one that's unscratched, up-to-date, and in style?
Noah had a reason for collecting two of everything. I'm not sure why the rest of us do it.
