Lost and Found

On Sunday afternoon I lost my baby.

It was a perfect day for a stroll, and so my girlfriend and I took Rickets, an Australian cattledog, to the dog park.  Rickets being the photogenic mutt he is, I had every justification for leaving my camera hanging around my neck as I always do.

Only this day would not be like any other.  Well, it would be like just one other day, a little over a year ago – the first time I left my camera on a bench and tottered off, unaware of the sin I was committing.

Luckily, this Sunday had another thing in common with that day over a year ago.  I got my camera back, and faster this time.  After the first incident it took three days and a trip to an ATM.  This time it just took a phone call.

What I had done was sat down to read a few pages of my book (Naked in Baghdad by NPR’s Anne Garrels), and it being such a carefree day, I chose to ignore my camera as it practically screamed at me from the far side of the bench.  It wasn’t until Rickets was watching me get ready for an assignment, following me from room to room while I looked for the camera that belonged in the bag around my waist that I realized it wasn’t there and that I knew exactly what I had done.

I looked at Rickets.  He was once lost himself – a fully grown stray when my sister found him and brought him home.  I can only wonder what life he led up until that point, but I’m willing to bet we’re the best owners he’s had.  I couldn’t help but imagine that my camera would go to waste in someone else’s hands, taking terrible photos of flowers and cats.

Rickets’ little brain is a bit more nuanced than the average canine’s, but even he could not grasp the anguish with which I wrestled the notion that I had yet again lost my camera, which I was certain I would never do.  I refused his urges to play while I called my girlfriend, still at the park playing soccer.  Lo and behold there was a note attached to the bench at the scene of my lapse of mental acuity.

On it was a number, and after leaving a quavering message describing the camera down to the Al Gore photos left on it from my last assignment, I called a friend to see if I could borrow his camera.  Somewhat relieved – just minutes after realizing I had even lost my precious – I was assuaged knowing that I’d probably get it back.  The only consequences would be getting to my assignment a little late and having to use a loaner camera.

On the road to borrow my friends’ old camera, another phone call had me make a U-turn.  I was going to shoot my assignment with my camera.  I’ll take this chance to plug the business of the man who returned my camera:  If you’re in the La Jolla/University City area in San Diego, and you need a professional dog walker you can trust, look up Dr. Joey’s Dog Day Afternoons at 858-638-1550.

Thirty minutes after my assignment began I was reunited with my camera and on the road.  With haste upon arriving I closed my eyes, took one last look at Al Gore on my LCD screen before formatting my memory card, and proceeded to make up for lost time with the camera I had once again found.