Doubly Thankful - A Camera and a Cat
Last edited Fri Nov 24, 2017, 10:20 AM - Edit history (4)
Well, it has been an emotional roller coaster day for me. 2 unrelated reasons to weep, first with joy, and then with relief.
The camera story - since 1978, I have been the reluctant owner of a Canon F1 camera. Reluctant, because it was not originally mine. It belonged to my younger brother (and only sibling), Tom. He died in February of 1978, at the result of a scuba diving adventure gone wrong. He was studying photography at the time, at RIT - Rochester Institute of Technology. He had a good eye. He and a group of friends were going to go on a winter dive under the ice and do some underwater photography. Something went wrong, and he and his girlfriend were both pulled out of the water unconscious and blue. She responded to resuscitation efforts, but he did not. He probably suffered a cold-induced cardiac arrhythmia. He didn't drown. My parents thought it would be right for me to take the camera, so I did. I carted it all around Japan for 2 years, which is where I was living at the time, during my second active duty tour with the Air Force nurse corps. Took lots of pictures. I haven't used it in a number of years now, but couldn't bring myself to part with it by selling it. I was considering asking RIT if they would want it.
Our younger son, now 25, has been an avid photographer for about 3-4 years. Digital of course, and he is doing some cool stuff with a drone camera. He lives in Chicago, works at the Merchandise Mart, and is quite in love with the architecture of the city. We live about an hour away, in one of the far northwest suburbs, and he is home for the long weekend. Fully expecting to be politely declined, I asked him today if he might have any interest in this camera. To my surprise, he said he would absolutely love to have it. He took it out of its sturdy leather case, and gently cleaned it off, and began to get acquainted with it. He said, "I wish I could go out and but some film today." He has never worked with a camera that uses "old-fashioned" film.
Anyway, my heart is full of joy that this camera will once again be in the hands of someone with skill and passion. It feels good to have a photographer in the family again. I think my brother would be pleased and favorably impressed. He would have been a good uncle.
The Cat Story - I was afraid Winston, one of our 4 cats, all of whom are indoor cats, had somehow gotten out of the house while we were busy all day with Thanksgiving dinner preparations. My husband and sons kept saying, "Don't worry. He's off sleeping somewhere. He'll show up." Years ago, we had an indoor cat get out without our knowing it, and she was picked off by a car right in front of our house. A neighbor found her and told us. I was devastated. We never did figure out how she got out. Because of that one experience, I panic rather easily when any of ours pulls a disappearing act for more than a couple of hours.
When it got to the point where it had been several hours since we had last seen him, my stomach was in such a knot that I couldn't even eat the dinner we had made. I looked everywhere. I called. I even went and walked around the neighborhood calling for him, in the dark (good luck trying to spot a black and brown tabby in the dark, right?), and was only partially relieved when I did not find a squished cat in the immediate streets of our development. Finally, about 8 PM, just as I was about to go on another walk about, I heard my younger son upstairs, in a very cheerful tone of voice, say, "Well, well." There was Winston, sitting on the landing of the stairs. I don't know where the hell he had hidden himself for over 7 hours, but he did a damn good job of it, the little bastard. Actually, a big bastard would be more like it - he is almost 15 pounds of sleek muscle and shiny fur.
I love him to pieces and I was sure happy to see him.
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Honestly think they enjoy creating drama sometimes. One of ours once pulled that on us. We were frantic for about two hours when we finally spotted her happily perched atop the kitchen cabinets enjoying the fuss.
