A Tale of Two Cameras

When we were in Ohio last May, I ruined our very nice camera. I left it on Shonna's table, face down, next to my glass of ice water. I learned the very hard way that water condenses on the outside of a glass A LOT in Ohio. It formed a nice pool of water that the camera was sitting in. After that, the pictures were blurry and watery looking. Here's a picture of my birthday flowers on the Water Camera:

So when we got home, I bought a new camera. We took that with us to Virginia in June, but we didn't like it, so we traded up for a much nicer one when we got home. We were just starting to learn how to get some really nice pictures on it. Until Friday. We had our first Keynote performances at two rest homes on Friday morning. I had all the stuff in my arms and had the camera to take a publicity picture after. As I was loading the car, I dropped the camera. It was in it's padded case, so I didn't even give it a second thought. After the performance, I got everyone set up for the picture and grabbed a poor unsuspecting fellow to take them for us. He took two, then said,"the screen turned all white." His face was as white as that darned screen. We fiddled with it, but we couldn't get it to change. So that's how many shots we got of us. The camera is broken. It will work sometimes, but most of the time it just is white. Ahhh. I had to go to Costco after the performance. the whole way out there I was fiddling with the camera and willing it to work(I'm sure that's worse than texting while driving!) I was so upset. After Costco, I continued to fiddle. Only about half the time would it turn on. AAAAAHHH!!! I was so sad and depressed all day. I was so scared to tell Ken that I'd broken yet ANOTHER camera. I even prayed mightily for Heavenly Father to fix it. He didn't. I knew He could, but He didn't. I asked why not? What would it hurt to have a fixed camera? What good could possibly come of a broken one? Still, no luck. When Ken got home, I was so sad and scared that I burst into tears. I told him the story. As I was wailing, "I've broken TWO expensive cameras in one year." His reaction is a treasure in my heart for the rest of my life. He just laughed, hugged and kissed me, and said, "Well, you'ved developed a new talent this year." That made me cry even harder. So, we have only half a camera (I can get it to work about half the time), but I love my husband double. And THAT"S a very good reason for Heavenly Father not to fix the camera.

Ken didn't even remember it, but it reminded me of a similar camera story from a few years ago. We were in Hawaii with my siblings. We went to a wonderful beach. My brother, John had a new camera. First, he was shooting pictures of the water and beach, then he put it in his pocket, and bounded out to play in the surf. He was leaping over waves and having a great time when the camera flew from his pocket, into the water. We searched (though now I know from my Ohio experience, it would have been ruined even if we had found it,) but couldn't find it. Poor John was so sad. His wife, Cindy's reaction also will stay in my heart forever. She told him that one of things she has always loved about him is his boyish exuberance (leaping over waves) and that was a lot more important to her than a $300 camera. So, there you have it. Two camera stories that are sad, but also very happy. Merry Christmas!