My Fountain of Youth

The 16th century conquistador Juan Ponce de Léon spent a lot of time and money in the New World looking for the fabled Fountain of Youth, the mythical water source that would make people young again. He never found it, but he did discover Florida in the process, and to this day lots of folk still seek a fountain of youth there.

Well, seek on, people. As for me, I’ve found my Fountain of Youth. It’s right in the Holyoke Mall, an easy car ride away:

They call it The Apple Store. Here’s the fair maiden who offers the promise:

If you buy a new Apple computer, a MacBook Pro or a MacAir, you can — for $99.95, coin of the modern realm — invest in a year of regular (every day, if you like) personal tutoring with your own personal Creative. Yep, that’s the title of the tutors, the guys in the royal blue shirts, you gotta love Apple!  (Actually they’re doing some fancy footwork with the program at the moment, and you can now have workshop sessions instead, or drop-in-whenever-you-want-to quickies, but I was baptized in the waters of the old-fashioned 50-minute hour, just like with the best psychotherapists, and that’s the program that gets my allegiance.)

So why is this my Fountain of Youth?

Well, for openers: look who surrounds us here. Hub and I are the Ancient of Days in this company. But not one person ever makes us feel that way. The geniuses behind the Genius Bar take care of any hardware problems. And all of the sharp, high-tech, patient, amiable young guru Creatives welcome us one to one, assume we can learn whatever we want to, offer possibility and challenge and mental stimulation — And some laughs, and always, something new and unexpected that we can do with our Macs. Can’t feel old in this company!

So whenever we’re feeling kind of old and dull-edged and worn out, we make sure to schedule a One-to-One session at the Apple Store. Biggest kick recently was the scene last week  at the low square table up front:

Let’s hear it for Apple and the late, great Steve Jobs! They care for the old, they care for the young, they give everybody the same shot at expressing themselves in the world in any way they choose. Maybe movies aren’t the only things that have sequels. Maybe we could call this photo, kind of like Star Trek,  Apple: The Next Generation:

When I go, beam me up, Scotty!