Last week I got new checks in the mail. It had been years since I needed any; like most people I find myself writing fewer and fewer checks these days. Cutting open the package, I was struck by the fact that where I used to receive a whole box of checks, I now got a slim envelope of only two — one more paper item that used to be solid and institutional was now, like so much else, swiftly passing into irrelevance. I couldn’t help feeling a twinge of loss.
When I saw the new checks I was suddenly flooded with a regret I didn’t anticipate at all.