Non-Digital Images

I lost my camera. It happened at some point over the last three weeks while I was back in the US for work. I think I left it in my hotel room when I checked out for the weekend, but they say they can't find it. I consider myself above average (85th percentile perhaps) in responsibility, so when something like this occurs, it makes me reevaluate that and everything else I once believed to be true.

The first reaction for most people when they lose something is to blame others. I've been known to do that in the past. On a teen trip to Israel in high school, I accused Rosemary Lahasky of stealing my t-shirts. I wasn't particularly nice about it either. I don't remember much about it besides that I yelled at her a lot and in front of other people. In the end, I realized I hadn't packed as many t shirts for the trip as I originally thought. Not my finest moment. I'm sorry, Rosemary. Accusing others is natural when one loses something because it avoids looking in the mirror and recognizing the true source of accountability. No one likes admitting their faults or owning up to mistakes.

I never thought it was anyone else's fault. I knew it was mine. I held out hope it could be found. I called several people at the hotel, the lost and found at work, and Hertz, to see if it was left in the rental car the team was sharing. No luck. As the operator at the Westin Hotel told me when she was obviously tired of dealing with me, the camera was gone and I needed to accept it.

I was left without a camera. Fortunately, I'm pretty good about downloading the pictures off of the camera (see the 85th percentile above), so the only pictures lost were from previous two weekend trips to New Orleans and Miami. In this world of Facebook, Twitter, etc., it begs the question, if the moment wasn't captured and recorded digitally, did it actually happen? I question whether in a few years, we'll be able to remember anything. Think about how many phone numbers you know by heart.We take pictures of everything documenting the very minute details of everyday life. Children today will not have to remember anything because their entire lives are recorded on digital video or in images.They will have terrible memories because they will never need to utilize that part of their brain.

Though I will probably forget the two iguanas hanging out on the rocks next to the pool at the Ritz in Miami, I will not have a problem remembering meeting my niece, Ella, for the first time. I'll also remember my nephew Ben losing his front two teeth. I had some great pictures of my cousins Sasha and Zach playing with their older cousins (my nephews), Ben and Josh, some of which were of Sasha dumping sand on their heads as they tried to dig an enormous hole. I'll remember the wonderful and incredibly relaxing time we had at the beach with Judith and Rachel (my sisters), Brian (my brother-in-law), and Melissa and Shai (my aunt and uncle).

We take pictures of everything because we don't want to miss a moment, but maybe the lesson here is to focus more on the moment because pictures and cameras can be lost. The other lesson is to put my name and contact information on my new camera. Or maybe there is no lesson at all. There is, however, the undeniable and overriding fact that losing stuff sucks.