I’m not sure the timing could have been better if I’d planned it myself. Today is summer solstice, the high point, the winding down. I’m sitting on the floor in my office. I’m typing a letter to my editor. I couldn’t resist going old school on this, and I hope that there is enough humor in it for me.
I finished today. Twenty days after the original deadline, I wrote the last words in my manuscript. I took it out and had it printed, all of those months and thousands of words lasered onto sheets of paper. They’re all together, bundled up nice—nineteen different little tales and the nineteen different illustrations that inspired them.
Now it flies off in the mail, away from me, to a fresh pair of eyes, to a nocturnal pen. In a few weeks time it will come back, likely covered in tattoos of redaction and thoughtful arrows. It will come back covered in spit so that I may take out my rag and polish once more. Once more with feeling.
But that’s then. This is now. Now is a bit of fancy old school carnival as I type a letter to my editor.
“Hello, Mister Typewriter. Welcome home.”
Those are the first words typed on my new (old) typewriter, a Royal Quiet Deluxe portable from 1938. I guess I didn’t plan to start collecting typewriters, but I am slightly obsessed. Where do I begin!
Cameron’s Aunt Jann called me over to the back of her van last weekend while we were up in Santa Barbara. She had a surprise for me. And this is what I found inside, protected within a black dust-covered, hardshell case. Incredible.
I brought it home and spent a chunk of time yesterday afternoon cleaning and restoring it to the best of my amateur abilities. Now she shines—free from years of cobwebs, grime and disuse. I imagine it sat in an attic or a garage for many years, but everything is still in perfect working order. The cleaning brushes are also still present, along with documentation that reveals the typewriter originated in Portland, Maine. Except for needing a new ink ribbon—this current one is, understandably, faded—it’ll work like new.
As a writer, the history attached to these things makes me crazy. I love to imagine what letters or documents it’s seen, what mind has put it to use. What happened over the years, nearly a lifetime, before it was brought to me? There’s an infinite amount of romanticism wrapped up in these machines, at least for me. It’s just enough to be near them sometimes, but it’s an honor to now call this one mine.
(Thank you, Aunt Jann. Thank you.)
Today is my 26th birthday. I’m not one of those people who dreads a birthday, grays or getting older. Maybe because I feel like “old” is still a long way off? We can revisit that in a few more years over a dish of Werther’s Originals, but for now I’m excited about getting older; I’m excited about the next 365 days of my life, what they will hold, what I might accomplish with them.
For posterity: I took today off of work to “celebrate.” My close friends and I went out for burgers and drinks on Saturday, so the larger celebration—the wild one, if you could even call it that—has already taken place. Today, the actual day, has just been quiet. I am going to go get a tomato, mozzarella, cucumber and basil sandwich for lunch, read my book somewhere outdoors, work on some stories I have in-progress, and have dinner tonight at Gjelina in Venice.
My joy, does it speak for itself? I feel a bit spoiled this year in the gifts department. I can now officially shut my fat mouth about not owning a typewriter! Cameron got me the exact seafoam Hermes 3000 typewriter-of-my-dreams that I had been staring at for months and months. It’s from 1962 and it’s in beautiful condition, complete with its original manual and cleaning brushes. I unwrapped it on Saturday and I think, like a child, it has crossed my mind at least once an hour since then. I wake up in the middle of the night to make sure it is still there.
The typewriter was made in Switzerland (Serial# 3140602) and, as usual, I would really like to name it. Boy or girl? I’m not sure. If you have a suggestion, please let me know!
As well, Mom and Dad chipped in and I was able to buy a gently used Canon Digital Rebel XTi EOS 400D camera for my birthday. I’m on the very-very amateur scale as far as photographers go, but I’ve been wanting to learn and practice; I think this is the perfect opportunity.
So.
I feel like I am in a very good place going into my 26th year. Grateful and lucky, yes. There is so much to work on. My hopes are high and through the ceiling for what I can learn and accomplish. LET’S GO!
