It happened just this week. Our forty-threeyear-old electric alarm clock kicked the bucket, and we are having adjustment problems. My husband received ‘old faithful’ in 1981 when he graduated high school, and in reality, it has been a part of his life longer than I have. It has traveled with us into every home we’ve lived in, from Louisiana to Indiana and back. It is an inanimate time piece which has nudged its way into our affection just by faithfully doing the job it was created to do. Now it’s worn out.