I am amazed at how new products can, in a short time, become “necessary” parts of our lives. Sticky notes are an example of that phenomenon. A failed experiment for a new adhesive found a market in notes that can both sick where they are put, but can also be easily removed without damage. Now these little notes can be found everywhere. They appear in various sizes and colors. Someone even found notes shaped and decorated like Hawaiian shirts. I’m not sure what I would do without them. Other new products may have become popular, but have unexpected consequences. When polyester double knit fabrics became available they swept the market. But I found them to be hot in humid summer weather and much too breezy in winter weather. One summer I went to garage sales and found wool trousers which many were eliminating in favor of polyester. That winter I was toasty in my wool trousers while others had frosty knee caps. Sometimes the new is superior and at other times the old is much better. I like the mix of things old and new. Chicken and noodles with an old stewing hen seems much better to me than chicken and noodles with a spring chicken. But for fried chicken I like the tender spring chicken best. The richest world seems to be one where the new and old get together in creative balance. I want to sing the old songs right next to the new songs. I want to read the classics and also the new up and coming others. I want to eat Grandma’s old fashioned recipes and find new cuisine to sample from places I have never visited. I love the poems I remember from my youth and hear the new voices of young poets. The richness of the old and the freshness of the young both fill me with delight. – Both are gifts from God.