As Tears Go By

My Cannon G3 PowerShot bit the dust Monday. I have had this camera since about 2002, have taken it everywhere from sailing the Pacific to Canada to Mexico to Catalina Island to the Caribbean and from D.C. and New York to many points between there and Phoenix. It has been my rather large, clunky friend for these past seven or eight years now and I am missing it all ready.

The passing was quick and painless - at least for my friend. One minute it was working fine and the next, ZAP! and it was all over. And a rather loud ZAP it was, too. Sort of a pop with great intensity.

It all happened when I was plugging it into my computer to download the pictures off the memory card. When the cord touched the camera it was lights out for my buddy. I had warned him about giving me static. But his life was coming to a close. The third set of batteries was already in use. One lens had been dropped and the crystal lens chipped. And, compared to his more youthful rivals, he was beginning to show his age.

So now, when I think of my newly-passed friend, I'll be thinking of the Stones song, As Tears Go By, as I sit and watch as tears go by...