Earlier today, I was able to watch a young child experience a typewriter for the very first time in his life. To be honest, this was quite a treat for me as I had never seen such a thing play out before my eyes in the past. Of course it didn’t hurt that this young man (whose name is Parker) was very likeable and sharp as a tack.
This all played out over at my neighborhood typewriter shop, Type Space . Just in case you are wondering, no I haven’t yet truly grown accustomed to the fact that I actually have a typewriter shop located so close to me. Though I try not to take this for granted, I hadn’t stopped by in a while . So I decided to change that today and am so glad that I did.
As I was sitting there at the community table I spotted a man and a child about to walk into the shop. It turned out that it was a father and his son making their first visit to the shop. (Mom would show up just a few minutes later. ) It was quite evident that this boy was truly excited about all of the typewriters out on display as he moved about looking over one after another, often noting the prices to his dad.
It seems that Parker had seen something to do with the “LEGO typewriter” earlier in the day and his parents decided to let him check out the real thing. In no time at all, Parker found himself sitting at the table with a number of different typewriters to check out for himself. After he began to get the hang of things on the first model he tried, he was off and running.
As he tried out the various typewriters he was commenting on them, noting which ones he liked better and which ones dldn’t appeal as much to him. It seemed that Parker was a fairly price conscious Shopper as well. As the folks at Type Space already had a Hermes 3000 sitting out on the big table, they let Parker try lt out as well (after he asked). After a rather short period of time, he informed his parents that he didn’t think that one was going to work out for them.
As I walked back home, I thought to myself just how refreshing it was to see the world through young Parker’s eyes, even if it was only for a short while . I was actually pretty excited myself when buying my first typewriter just last year, but as I had previous experience with these machines, my level of excitement were no-where near his own. (Not to mention that I have more than an additional 5 decades of life experience.)
If you’re reading this Parker, as I said earlier it was really a pleasure meeting you today. If you are looking for someone to send a letter to, feel free to write to me and know that I’ll write back to you. (If your parents give you the okay to do so that is, I’ll be following up with them via the email address that they gave me.) If you did end up deciding on a typewriter today, I hope that it treats you well and that you enjoy it for a very long time.
AFTERTHOUGHTS: Another cool thing about today was that it was also the first time I got to see Type Space operating in the fashion that the proprietors had envisioned, where a variety of people could experience these machines in the company of others if they wished. Sitting at the community table, after he had begun to figure out how a typewriter worked, Parker was not at all shy about telling me about what he had typed out or why he had typed it in the first place. In case you might be wondering, the first word that Parker chose to type was “zebra”.
That’s a great story! Love it when kids discover typewriters for the first time.
It was a great afternoon for sure. This particular discovery was very fun to watch.
The young man (I think he’s 6 years old) ended up getting the Smith Corona Deville. It’s the one he liked because it was snappy! He wrote a note to his sister while he was there and his mom was helping him spell. He kept wanting to use the shift so he could make caps at the beginning of each word. His mom said, “No, just the words at the beginning of each sentence get a capital letter.” He replied, “That’s not fair to the other letters!” I totally agree, Parker. It’s Not Fair 🙂
That’s awesome — thanks for letting me know. Such a great kid. I can only imagine that those sorts of moments are the ones that really raise your spirits there at the shop.
Yup, certainly one of the great joys of sharing typewriter love. (:
Definitely. It also served to clear out some of the cobwebs of my memory. It’s been 16 years now since watching my own son at that age when he was excitedly discovering so many things for the very first time.
Thanks for sharing your heartwarming story!
Did you make that cool typewriter graphic?
It was such a great thing for me to witness. I stopped by Type Space again yesterday and we were still talking about that experience.
Yes, the funky typewriter is my creation. I like to keep things fun with this hobby so I design all of the various stationery pieces that I use as well.
Type here.. “It’s not fair to the other letters”
What a lovely reply.
To be honest, it made tears in my eyes.
Happy tears.
It’s also lovely to know that more people then me that love typewriters.
I’m a swedish collector of Facit and have been typing my whole life.
Take care and type on.
//Tompa