My Cameras Through the Ages
I received another camera the other day. I have no idea how many that makes, but this one was special. Not because it was a little camera from the late 1920s, but because it tied in with some of the other conversations that I've been having lately.
Now this next part is going to bother a lot of people, so ... well ... too bad.
Imagine if you actually have lived more than one life. Imagine if you lived 50 years ago or 100 years ago or even more. Maybe you were an earl or a count. Maybe you were a lowly stable boy or just a commoner making your living off the land.
When you think about it, there have always been more commoners than royalty, so it's very likely that if you lived 100 years ago, you scrapped and scraped your way through life.
Back to the story: What if I lived 70 years ago and bought a camera in the early 1930s? And then I died, and that camera passed from person to person before finally making its way back to me? Is that cool or what?
It got me thinking about the end of my own life. Do I sell them off before I go? Well, if I go early and unexpectedly, then who's to say. But what if I just tell someone to hold on to them until I come back for them? Or if I rent a storage locker for 25 years? Then the next time around, it's up to me to find them. Wouldn't that be fun?
Well, in all likelihood, I'll return as something that lacks opposable digits -- like a llama -- so they won't be of much use anyway.
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Now here's something that happened this week. A guy in Kentucky helped me buy a camera from a store that in his neck of the woods. He said he would try to get it to me quickly, but I told him he didn't have to hurry. My words:
"It's been waiting for me since the 1940s. Another week or so won't hurt."
As it turned out, he sent me the camera Saturday, and somehow it was waiting for me at work when I arrived Monday morning. That was incredibly quick.
The shutter is jammed, which we discussed, so I had taken it apart. As I packed it up for the evening, I suddenly got an urge to turn the faceplate upside down. And here's what I saw:
A camera with my initials scratched into the back. Interesting? Coincidence? Some people say that there are no such thing as coincidence.
In any case, it makes me consider the possibilities ...