hello.

I don't even remember when I first used a Mac — I only remember using it. I'm not entirely sure which one, but it was almost certainly the original model (pictured above) that sat upright with a small monochrome monitor built in, and a thick, rectangular mouse. I was visiting friends who had bought one, back in the day, when the idea of a home computer was still new and novel (and expensive). I remember drawing a cartoon in MacPaint — nothing too elaborate, just something I could construct mostly from lines and shapes. It took time to become comfortable with the mouse, but I was able to use the software with ease, despite the fact that I had never, ever used a computer this way before. It was magic.

This week marks twenty-five years since that original Macintosh first went on sale. In the time since, the computer has gone from being an expensive hobby item to an indispensable, slightly-less-expensive appliance. What I can do with the MacBook that I type this on, I would never have imagined possible while sitting in front of that first Mac.

I'm sure I still have a copy of the drawing, somewhere. (At least, I hope I do.)