Okay everybody. We don't need any injuries that will keep you from reading Val's subsequent posts! So let's get ready for this tale. Start limbering up. Stretch out your crazy temple twirly finger!
Last fall, I bought a new printer. I might have mentioned it here, or not. It's been a while since we had a working printer, my trusty laser version in my basement lair having gone crazy a few years back, and the giant office version Genius had gotten a bargain on in college only working sporadically. Neither of them responding to my commands from HIPPIE upstairs.
Anyhoo, I know I got this inkjet printer before Sept 6, 2023, because that's the day The Pony set it up for me while he was out here for Labor Day to have grilled steaks. Well. You get what you pay for. My new printer worked a couple times, then quit. It ACTS like it's printing, but the black ink doesn't work. I looked up internet fixes for what seems to be a very common issue with this model, and had no success reviving it. So basically, after my last unsuccessful try in mid-March with tax forms, that printer just sits there in front of the living room window on a TV tray, doing nothing. I didn't even bother to walk over and turn off the power. I wash my hands of this lemon, and will give it away to Hick to distribute to anybody who wants it. That printer is in sight, but out of mind.
Meanwhile, on Friday morning at 6:00, I called The Pony for our daily chat before he gets ready for work. Hick had already left, headed for his SUS2 (Storage Unit Store 2). I didn't have much to say, nor did The Pony. Around 6:05, as we were saying out goodbyes, a BRIGHT FLASH OF LIGHT lit up the living room.
What in the Not-Heaven??? I mentioned it to The Pony.
"Don't know what's going on here! Just had a flash of light! No storms. The sun is just coming up. The living room lights are on, but there was just a bright flash! TV is fine. No phone interference. WAIT A MINUTE! It's my printer! That front window panel thingy just lit up. It's like it took a picture of me! Weird! Why would it do that? It better not be SPYING ON ME!"
Heh, heh. Val is always about her conspiracies. The Pony had no idea why that printer would come on after two months of sitting dormant. It's not like I have the app on my phone and could have hit it with my face. The only place I have the app is on HIPPIE, which was on the kitchen table, turned off and unplugged.
I hung up from The Pony and took a picture of the printer with its window light clearly on:
I intended to send it to The Pony later, at 7:00, when I sent him a wakeup text. As I set my phone down on the table, I realized the date. May 31. That was my mom's birthday! I had been thinking about it all week. Even shouted out "Happy Birthday tomorrow, Mom!" as I drove by the cemetery on Thursday, in a hurry to the bank. So now, I said it again: "Happy Birthday, Mom."
The light on the printer went off.
For years, my mom would call me every weekday morning at 6:00. It was our time to chat, after Hick had left for work, and the boys were getting ready for school.
I sent The Pony a text:
"Today is Grandma's birthday, and it's the time we always talked to each other. Now there's funny electrical activity. COINCIDENCE???"
"Ghosts!"
"As soon as I took the light picture, and said 'Happy Birthday,' the light went off."
"Awwww."
Not saying my mom lives in a busted printer! Only that there are forms of energy we can't always explain with simple logic.
Your mom is still with you and around you, the printer was a convenient way of her telling you that.
ReplyDeleteMy mother still sits on her couch, my uncle sees her rather frequently. If you didn't know she had passed away, you'd think she was a real person.
There are things that simply can't be explained.
I'd like to think that. I used to feel it strongly when I saw ladybugs everywhere, every week, right after she died in early Feb 2015. Not a month noted for ladybugs. I found them in my car, in my house, in my classroom, on my porch. Ladybugs were a joke with us, because of how Mom treated them in her house.
DeleteI've seen a random man standing beside me in my basement, in an old-timey white shirt with black buttons. He faded away quickly, and didn't have a head. Never saw my mom, but I used to have vivid, detailed dreams about her, as did my niece. My sister was disappointed, because she never dreamed about Mom.
"The Shadow Knows" (,,,followed by ominous laughter...)
ReplyDeleteAt least I don't sense a feeling of evil lurking in anybody's heart when these weird things happen!
DeletePerhaps you could ask your mum to hover around inside the printer and fix the problems so it works again?
ReplyDeleteMy printer sort of works but each thing I print is a little off since the roller that feeds the paper got tangled up with a sheet of paper that had something sticky on it. Also a very annoying thing is I print mostly black documents but the coloured ink always runs out first! Like the printer mixes the colours to make black so when I need colour there isn't any left! I'm not buying another new printer anyway because the ink is too expensive now at $65 for a single small cartridge.
Heh, heh! That would be a big mistake! Mom was always calling elementary-school-age Genius for the slightest computer problem. I don't think she is proficient at printer repair.
DeleteI prefer a laser printer, just black, with a cartridge that seems to last forever. The higher cost is worth it to me, after having struggled with inkjet versions. I don't make many copies these days, so went the cheap route. Which was definitely not a bargain!
That is weird about the printer light! I never once dreamed about my mother. I was closest to her and the oldest. One day, however, I did see her standing my in some usual clothing, talking. She disappeared too quickly. I was moved.
ReplyDeleteIs the printer still on and just not working. Or was it off when the life came on. Leave it like it is and maybe she will make another 'appearance.'
Such an encounter would be comforting. Unlike the random guy I saw, which was unnerving.
DeleteThe printer power is on, has been continuously since March, when I never turned it off. It ACTED like it worked back then, when I sent it a job. Made the printing noises and spit out the paper, with only a couple faint markings on it.
This time the control screen lit up out of the blue. I was not at my laptop, not even thinking about that printer. When the control screen went dark again, the power to the printer was still on, shown by the two little lights that have been on for months.