MOBIUS MICROWAVE

A mobius strip is a strip of paper, or whatever, that's joined to itself in a circle, but with a twist -- a real twist, that is. As a result, if you trace around the circle without lifting your finger -- it makes it easier to see if you use something to mark your path --you'll discover that there is only one side to this shape. One side and one edge. Just goes to show there can be just one side to a story.

So what does this have to do with a microwave?  Follow along.

When we moved into our current house, it had all new Kitchen Aid stainless steel appliances, including a microwave. We'd bought a new white one less than a year before moving and it worked perfectly, so we stashed it in the basement just in case.

As microwaves often go, the new one went in less than 2 years. Our "just in case" moved upstairs and ran reliably along for 6 years, until it died last week after cooking one last potato.

Naturally we raced out to buy a new one the next day. (Who can live without reheated coffee?) Our newly dead microwave must have been a very successful model because Panasonic still sells its twin, except in stainless steel instead of white.

It was installed that afternoon and I gave it a cup of cold coffee to warm right away. I reached to open the door with my left hand, opened to grasp a handle.

The new microwave doesn't have a handle.  It has a button that you push with the right hand, just like its white predecessor did.  Again and again, I found myself starting to extend my left hand to a non-existent handle.  Was I nuts? (Those who know me, don't answer that!)

I mentioned it to my sister, who said she was doing the same thing.  What the hell?

Then I remembered -- the microwave that came with the house had a handle, and it was stainless steel.  We last used it six years ago, during a 2-year interval between using the white no-handle one.
Somehow the mobius strip in our minds took us on single-sided trip back to the stainless steel microwave. One side.  No place for the solid six years of white no-handle.

Good Lord! What else has snapped me back in time?  Am I living my life in separated segments of time? I'll have to watch out for more mobius moments.  Meanwhile, I guess I really am living on the edge. Just one.