Editor's note :

Recently, I had a problem with an e-mail address which I had tried to send over and over only to discover it was missing an "N". Having fixed it, I sent out a Eureka message for having discovered my error.

Mary sent back this reply...



Ahhh-so.   The essential "N"  That reminds me of a relatively boring yet true story about an essential alphabet letter, which apparently I use a lot more than I thought.

Around about the first of April, when I was filing my taxes online, my keyboard began misfiring.
And guess which letter on my PC keyboard would NOT work?  The letter "V."

I tried prying the V key up, then prying it off and cleaning under it; pressing down its different corners; capitalizing it--but all to no aVail (result). In order to sign my tax form, which I file online (with a name like MarinkoVich) I had to go through my saVed poetry, find a word with that letter in it, copy it and paste it, eVery time I needed  "v."

In emails --

Love, Mary...became Fondly, Mary;

Best wishes, Mary;

Thinking of you in the kindest terms, Mary

All of a sudden, that dratted V was in eVery sentence I needed to write, and I began using a thesaurus to get 'workaround' words.

So, "Very truly yours" became--"Really truly yours"

"Virtually"--became "just about;"

"aboVe all" --became "most importantly;"

"point of View" --became "another aspect of the situation."

I deemed it a Vindication (justification; confirmation) of my writing prowess that I didn't simply break down and buy a new laptop, as would lessor mortals.

And I seriously began to consider affecting a Bavarian Accent...in which all V's were converted to (transposed with) W's, transforming my written missives into a script resembling Elmer Fudd doing the Sound of Music.

But miraculously, my letter V returned as suddenly as it "wanished" and I am back in business.

--Mary
[Sleeker_special_clear]