What’s one thing you own that holds deep sentimental value?
It was the Nikon D7000 my grandfather used to use.
A storied piece of equipment. Something that I always admired from afar.
Grandpa died a long time ago.
I miss him, when I think back on it.
He always encouraged me so much. An English professor at the local community college, the man LOVED tearing into any student’s paper, dissecting, and grading, and writing detailed notes.
I used to think he hated his students. All the bright red pen ink he poured onto hundreds of papers, reports, essays. I don’t think it was hate anymore. If it was hate, he wouldn’t have written so many notes.
On to the part where he encouraged me, he always used to compare my reports in school to those of his college students. He’d still write the red lines, and the notes. But he’d tell me things like “You’re really advanced for your age.”
It felt good to be recognized.
He bought me my first camera, a Nikon Coolpix, when I was probably only 12-13. I wanted to take pictures just like him. Videos too, when I could. I never realized how much I emulated the big, scary, (sometimes) angry seeming man. He was, after all, a giant. At least in my eyes.
But cancer fells giants. Cancer fells geniuses.
There wasn’t much left of my family when Grandpa died. My parents divorced, and my world was shattered. I was pushed back and forth from house to house.
I remember retreating. Tucking away into a lonely little shell. Isolating myself.
Me and my Nikon Coolpix camera, and a laptop to write on. Not much came of any of that, but I think my grandmother took notice.
She let me use Grandpa’s camera. She started out with his older one, and then, when my skills (and maturity) grew, she upgraded me to his prized camera.
The Nikon D7000.
The same camera that took almost all of the pictures on this website, and many hundreds, perhaps thousands more.
I think my grandfather would probably be disappointed to see how I squandered my skills. He probably would have liked for me to go to college, to do and be more than I am.
I don’t know if he’s somewhere he can see me.
But I hope, if he’s looking out from heaven, he’s still grading my short stories, and essays.
And I sure hope he likes my pictures.
