Three years ago, my best friend, a Bernina 810, passed away after 29 years of faithful service. After discovering that my mother’s Bernina 830 was given to one of my other sisters, I finally went down to the local Bernina store to find a replacement.
I told the sweet young lady what had happened and that I needed to get a new machine. She asked which one I wanted and I pointed to one. She was surprised that I didn’t want to even try it out (I’d done my research ahead of time).
As we went to load it up in my car, I started to cry in the parking lot (how embarrassing!). She took one look at me, smiled and said I wasn't the first that felt this way and she wrapped me in a hug. Then she took my old friend as a trade-in at the original purchase price. I still feel silly, but it was still a month before I could bring myself to open up the new machine and learn how to use it.