Why Renting Matters
The year is 1999. My mom and I are walking the aisles of our local Blockbuster, searching for a cinematic masterpiece to fill our Friday night. The floors are uneven. The mirrors hanging high on the walls make the space seem endless. I try to touch every plastic case I can reach. We choose any Kevin Costner movie because who wouldn't? The man has style.
Now it's 2013. I'm searching through the stacks at CCSU for all the information I can find on chameleons for my vertebrate zoology class. Why did I choose chameleons!? They're horrible scaly monsters. I take four textbooks to a quiet table on the second floor and bang out an incredibly rough draft on chameleon predation. Adult chameleons will feed on juvenile chameleons if the opportunity arises. Monsters, I'm telling you!
It's still 2013 because that year went on forever. I'm in my cell of a room in my New Britain apartment, listening to CDs I rented from the library. CDs! 9 years ago! What a world! One of them is NOT Vetiver like the cover stated, but John K. Samson. I end up loving every single thing he writes.
It's 2018. I open the door to my much less cell-like Wethersfield apartment to tell my boyfriend my new idea. "I'm pretty sure you're going to love it!" I talk it up big time. I show him the scrap of paper I crammed with half-sentences and doodles. I ask him if he's ready to start working on this new venture with me. He says, and I quote, "Hmmm, no thanks." I work on it anyway, developing a business plan after work and on weekends.
It's April of 2022. My first customers come back inside after an hour-long rental, smiling and laughing, unable to stop talking about everything they saw on the trail. "Auntie Mel, next time we're stopping at Zingarella for milkshakes!" None of my other customers call me "Auntie," but they're all equally happy. My heart could not be more full.
And now, it's whatever day you're reading this. Maybe you're thinking, "Well, thank goodness she didn't start a writing business." But I took you on a bird walk for a reason. I wanted you to see that renting is more than just using and returning. It's a chance to experience something new. It's an opportunity to reach out into the world and grasp onto something that will never again belong to you. It's a moment unlike any other, unique and irreplaceable. It's a memory, every time.
