Rob Lifford

…for my Olympus D-220L digital camera, which died this morning at Long Island’s MacArthur airport. I was getting ready for the security check and slapped my backpack up on a table to queue it up for the x-ray machine. I guess I was in a hurry and put it down right on the edge, because the bag fell off as soon as I turned around. It hit the ground with a dull thud, and my first concerns were about the bottle of wine I had in there (which somehow didn’t break). I didn’t hear any plastic-cracking sounds, so it didn’t even occur to me that my camera was in there, carelessly protected by nothing but an old bandanna wrapped around it. The front panel (which houses the flash, covers the lens, and serves as the on/off switch) is cracked and detached. I’d post a picture of it, but, uh, I don’t have a working digital camera. It’s pretty clear, however, that no repair can save it.

I can’t say it hasn’t served me well. I got the camera in October 1998, right before we shoved off for Korea for the first time. It made it through the second stay, of course, and remained with me all this time. It’s responsible for over 500 pictures on those two sites, and hundreds more on my hard drive. It survived many, many drops and knocks in various locations around the world, including several that I was sure would put it out of commission but didn’t. It was already a dinosaur by digital camera standards, but still perfectly fine for simple pics to be used mainly on-screen. Cheapskate that I am, I probably would’ve kept it for several more years.

There is a bright side to any sad situation, and that is the fact that I can still view the pictures on the camera (so perhaps it’s not quite dead, just critically injured). It seems that the memory card is alright, and I’ll be able to preserve the pictures I took over the weekend. Seeing as I spent the weekend at the wedding of my oldest friend (to a really wonderful woman!), plus hanging out with my family, including a first look at my brother’s beautiful daughter, that is a really bright side. So, ironically, the predominant feeling I have right now is gratitude. Thanks for the memories.