lost camera

i rummaged through my backpack to find some toothpaste. i thought about my flight back to the states in a couple days. i had stayed in japan much longer than i had planned, as if i ever really stuck to a plan. but i enjoyed meeting up with my brother in the philippines, and staying with my sister's family at a military base outside tokyo - helping them get ready to move to england, and visiting taiwan. it had been an awesome couple months. it was while i was thinking of all the great photos i had taken that i realized the top pouch of my backpack was empty. that's where i usually keep my camera. then i thought to myself, "where is my camera?"

immediately i pictured in my mind where i had last seen it. i distinctly remember hiding it in the van, passenger side, near the front door. i walked out to the van and checked the spot. it was gone.

my first thought was that someone had stolen the camera, since the door had been unlocked. then again, a military base is pretty safe, and i can't imagine anyone would just take it. aside from a heavy disappointment, i started to retrace my steps - the events of the evening were clear in my mind, including the times. i last saw the camera at 5 pm, as i stashed it in the van out of sight before heading into a banquet dinner at the military base. the kids and i stayed there for a couple hours, and cindy left early to do some shopping. once we had finished eating, the kids and i walked over to the library to read books and to wait for cindy to meet us. she showed up in the van at 7:30. i had completely forgotten about the camera, got into the van, and we all headed home. i worked on some projects at the house while cindy and ivey drove to the gas station around 8 pm to pick up a few things. They returned later, and we helped the kids get ready for bed. at 11:30 pm, i felt tired and sifted through my backpack to find a toothbrush, which made me aware that it was missing.

cindy and i left immediately to search for it. we left mason, my oldest nephew, in charge of the house while we were gone. we drove to the three places that the camera may have been: the enlisted club where we had eaten dinner, the library, and the gas station. i thought it may have fallen out of the van, since i had been precariously placed it by the door. i felt desperate as we arrived at the club, searching the parking lot, sidewalk, and inside a newspaper stand - just in case. i noticed a security guard, but he said that no one had turned in a camera tonight. we found nothing at the library and gas station, which made me start to lose hope. we noticed a police car on our way home, so we stopped to ask some questions. the cops said that we should check at the main gate, so we drove there. the lost and found office at the gate hadn't seen it, but we gave them our number and urged them to call if they found anything. we returned to cindy's house empty handed.

i realized that there was no identification on the camera. no name engraved on the side, no phone number taped to the back, no email address on a piece of paper in the camera bag. it was just a black camera in a case, with a ton of photos on the memory card. here it was, one hour later, and i had checked every possible place, and found nothing. i felt like from then on i would reference time from the day the camera was lost.

it may not have been so bad if it had been an old camera that needed to be replaced anyway. or if i had not just finished visiting three countries in asia for two months - but then again, it would have been worse if i had just started my trip. i had been saving photos and videos to my laptop as i traveled, so the data wasn't entirely lost. but it made me wish that someone had ripped it out of my hands and jumped a passing train to escape. and then i could have jumped the train and chased after them, leaping over passengers and dodging the people that check for tickets. if someone had stolen it from me, i'd at least have a story about a train chase, or a fist fight in an alley, or scaling the wall of a building. then i could be angry at someone other than myself. but i had simply left it in the van by the door, and forgot about it. it's like the scar that people ask about, and you wish you could say that it was a shark bite, or a motorcycle accident, or a bullet wound from a war; but it was from slipping on a wet kitchen floor as you hit the counter.

two hours after the camera was lost we placed an ad on a local online classifieds page, describing the camera and hoping someone would respond. i was depressed, and i slept in late the next morning. in fact, the whole day i was down, but i tried to forget about it. no one called back or responded to the ad. cindy had checked all three spots in the morning and found nothing. i was leaving for the states the next day, cindy was moving to england in a week or two, and i had been careless. but i was determined to learn something from it, to make the experience somewhat worthwhile.

the night after the camera was lost, i felt like i should check the classified ads, just in case. and to my surprise, there was a post from someone that found a camera! it was almost 10 pm, but we called immediately. as we described the camera over the phone i was ecstatic. it was the one. we drove over to the house right away and knocked on the door, apologizing for coming over so late. a lady handed me my camera, and it was in perfect shape. i was so relieved, as i thanked her profusely for being so helpful. they had found it on the ground at the gas station the night before. luckily they found it before anyone else.

it was a rough 22 hours, but i learned to be a little more wise and patient. once we arrived home, i labeled everything valuable that i owned. i was grateful that there are people in the world that are honest. i'm sure it helped that i prayed for it, and asked a friend to do the same. i feel that as long as i'm doing everything i can, whatever needs to happen, will happen.