Tech Obituary: The Manual Typewriter

I miss you manual typewriter. I miss replacing your ribbon. I miss getting my hands all smudgy with the ink. That I have to manually replace the black ribbon with the red (which is such a bother) only so I can play around with the color of my typed letters. You cannot make letters in bold so to compensate, I have to capitalize the letters or put asterisks before and after that word. I miss hearing the sound of you reaching the end of the margin. I miss holding the lever to drag it all the way to the left again to start a new row, and adjusting the knob on the side for the paragraph spacing. I miss the feel of pressing the letters firmly (like I'm mad) so the carbon copy inserted beneath the paper can be easily read. Sometimes when your letters get stuck, all I have to do is pull down the jammed letters back to their original place, one by one. 

I miss pulling the paper out of you and feeling the letters at the back of the paper like it's braille. 

I miss the simple times. I miss you manual typewriter. 

It's a shame, today's generation never got to experience you.      

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