An Old Roll Of Film

Don’t Throw That Away

In the battle of hoarder versus purger, I will throw away just about everything.  I like the material goods around me that brighten my world, but if I had to give them all up, say for a lifetime driving around the country basking in the natural beauty of the fifty states, I wouldn’t blink an eye.  Everything would go.  So during a recent move, I pat myself on the back for not throwing away four old rolls of film that I expensively dropped off at the local camera and hobby store – the last vestige of celluloid transfer from image to negative to prints.  And all four rolls could not have been more different.

During his sophomore year of high school (yes, high school), Son #1 took a band trip to Dallas, Texas, including Six Flags Over Texas (see “My Son’s Mecca” from February 2012).  Faces, some of which the names have faded, appeared on the variety of images from one canister of 35mm memories.  Son #2 used a disposable camera on his trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s house and the second roll of film from his solo Midwestern adventure proves my parents were caught red-handed in their spoiling with an outing to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

Five Years Later

My friend celebrates his 35^th birthday this week [insert appropriate birthday sing-a-long here], but it seems like just yesterday that he turned thirty.  Of course, the fact that I finish developing the photos from the outing five years ago may affect that perception.  My tardiness also reminds me of how swiftly life passes.  And as I thumb through these pictures, part of me reprimands myself for waiting so long to develop these images, but part of me also appreciates that I can see us all as we were half a decade ago and appreciate that the same wonderful people continue to be a part of one another’s lives.

This summer marks the five-year anniversary of our grandest family vacation: a circle tour of the American Southwest including New Mexico and Arizona, culminating at the Grand Canyon National Park.  The final roll of mysterious film, slightly yellowed from age, captures the day we reached the North Rim of the canyon.  Even better, the pictures remind us of a time that has passed, when Son #1 and Son #2 still lived at home, still vacationed with their parental unit, and still posed for photos on demand.  Who would have thought that this Emptied Nest Adventure could be found in a cardboard box?