Delores E. Topliff
When I was age 7, Marilyn Witt, a high
school senior who lived nearby, babysat my little sister and me one evening. I
don't recall her coming any other time, but she arrived carrying an intriguing heavy
black box with a handle. Marilyn said it held a typewriter to fill out her
college applications after my little sister went to sleep. Once I heard that, there
was no chance I would fall asleep. She had brought me two new words—typewriter and
college.
When she took the typewriter out of its
case and set it up, she explained how it worked. Then she sat me on her lap to
peck a few keys that then struck black printed letters on the clean piece of
paper she had rolled into the cylinder. I was fascinated with the
possibilities.
Next, as she spread out her application
forms, she told me about college. “It’s a place where you go to learn and have
a better life,” she said. That sounded wonderful, too. No one in our family had
been, but I never forgot and started saving for it that summer as I picked strawberries for Birdseye Frozen Foods—but that’s another story.
Marilyn brought me two new words that
night—typewriter, and college. Both have been happy additions to my life. College
teachers use typewriters and later computers lots. Then I became a writer, and
writers use them even more.
That babysitting evening long ago triggered
interests that established major directions for my life. I don’t
recall Marilyn babysitting us more than that one evening, but it was enough. I will
never forget both new concepts she taught me, and I am very thankful!
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