An Oven Algorithm

She is having her new oven delivered today,
and confides that it is an exciting, if not
emotional time.  She has spent 50 years
with the old one and fears she may cry
when they finally take it away.

I have never owned an oven, or anything
for that matter, for 50 years.  Despite that,
I try to sound sympathetic and empathize,
even though I find it difficult to wrap my mind
around a relationship of that length.

As the phone goes quiet for a moment,
I wonder if there is an algorithm
to determine the average bowls of soup, or
pierogies prepared by a Polish grandmother
over the lifespan of her oven.

She and I simply have a different measure
of time.  She is able to use major appliances
in her calculation.  I will need another 50 years
to understand loss to the degree at which
she has experienced it.