Delightful Discovery

Most of the scanning I have done for myself has been motivated by projects such as Christmas presents for my mom and siblings, or a graduation gift for my daughter. That involves looking for specific pictures to complete the project. Recently though, I've taken on the task of going through my boxes of unorganized photos and memorabilia. I have a shoebox full of duplicate photos still in the envelopes they came in from the developers. (Remember when you got your film developed and you could order duplicates? One set was used for scrapbooking, mounted in an album, or given to family and friends who were the subjects in the photos.) As I went through the envelopes, I realized many still contained the negatives. Imagine my surprise when I ran across a strip of images with a picture of my dad after a serious accident. Many years ago I was home on Christmas break from college. I had only been home a day or two, when Dad was hit by a car as he was getting into his truck late one night after work. One of the photos on the strip was of my dad sitting in a wheelchair in his hospital room. The other images were of my nieces and nephews opening their Christmas presents. I don't know what happened to the original photos because they aren't in any of my albums, but how delighted I was to be reminded of a very memorable Christmas from thirty years ago. This week it will be one year since my father passed away, and to come across another picture of him was a dear discovery. I have the scanned images in the appropriate folders on my computer now. It will be a double delight to share them with my mom and brother when we go to visit them in Texas for vacation. This priceless find has been the highlight of my week. Oh, and my dad did eventually have a miraculous recovery from that accident.