MY GRANDAUGHTER’S BIRTHDAY PRESENT

The Old Rusty Nail

AN E-JOURNAL FOR OLD PEOPLE

Russell Burton, an Old Person

My granddaughter lives about 11 hours by car north of where I live.  So, our conversations are by phone.  Her birthday was to be a couple of weeks away so I asked her father what she wanted for her birthday.  A few days passed I received a nice card and note letting me know that she wanted a SRL camera. 

She is a very bright cute 8^th grader who is particularly good at playing the saxophone in her school band.  But, her note as with all of my grandchildren’s was not hand written as cursor is no longer taught in schools.  So her note to me was printed using a mixture of capital and small letters.  It was difficult to read and to me showed a form of illiteracy.  Of course that is not true for all of my grandchildren are very smart getting good grades in their schools.

I remember when I was in grammar school especially in the eighth grade cursor was a requirement.  Oh sure we were never able to duplicate the handwriting that was displayed on the classroom walls for us to attempt, still all of us learned to write a script which could be read without much difficulty.  And, it showed to all who read it that it was written by someone who was literate; you know the three r’s reading, writing, and arithmetic. 

I fail to understand why cursor is no longer taught in schools.  Oh I suppose some private schools still teach it but that too is probably rare. 

Back to my granddaughter’s gift; I soon learned that SRL meant Single Reflex Lens with certain adjustments which are important for serious photographers.  All the cameras I have owned have been the ‘point and shoot’ kind and much cheaper than the kind she wanted.  And, I believe this is her first camera.  But she explained in her note to me that she wanted to have photography as her hobby and this kind of camera was important.  I guess playing her saxophone at which she is very good is not considered a hobby.

Of course what could a grandparent do other than go to Costco and look for a SRL camera which I could afford?   But, it was not just what I could afford but what makes sense for a 13 year old girl.  I write makes sense because to me lavishing expensive gifts on children I believe can be detrimental to their perspective regarding their middle class status in life.  You know she could get use to such expensive gifts so that when she grows up her life becomes a disappointment when she may not be able to afford the gifts she enjoyed when she was younger.  Now she will be looking not at a camera but a car.

And, I fell into that trap when I got to Costco and began to look for her camera.  Of course they were all digital which made me recall a lecture I had at Chautauqua a few summers ago.  The lecturer was the man who invented the digital camera.  He is an engineer who worked for Kodak.  He showed us the first photograph which he made from it.  Of course his digital camera was huge with a computer connected to a lens, etc. but the photograph although not great was recognizable.  I think this was back in the 1960s.  Kodak was not interested in his invention for it had a lock on the film industry and his camera did not use film.  Using Moore’s Law, he predicted that such a camera would be commercially available in the late 1980s.  He was absolutely correct to Kodak’s peril. 

Back to my granddaughter’s gift, the cheapest one was $300 which had been discounted to $250.  I tried to understand something about it so I could make a reasonably sound decision.  But as I read what it did and how it worked none of it made any sense to me.  You know instead of film it had a card with a certain capacity which I did not understand.  As I was trying to make sense of any of this a salesman walked up and showed me a $200 camera which had been discounted to $100, a very good buy he noted.  Yes, but it was not a SRL camera.

He then showed me what my downfall became for a day for I enjoy good deals, you know big discounts.  Here was a SRL camera originally priced at $900 discounted to only $500.  It was loaded with all kinds of extras including two lenses.  He noted that this camera could be considered one for professionals.  Perhaps but I know a professional photographer and each of his cameras cost several thousand dollars.  Still, the discount hooked me and the salesman noted that it included a carrying case worth $100.  So I bought it that is at Costco I filled out a card went to the cashier and paid for it on my credit card.  I took the paid slip to the guy who guarded the expensive items all enclosed in a huge wired-walled cage.  Out he came with this huge box.  Now, I was not expecting anything like that but he convinced me when he showed me a picture of the camera on the side of the box.

Needless to say, I immediately began to have regrets regarding my purchase; you know ‘buyer’s remorse’.  Of course what raced through my mind was that I was going against my better judgment regarding giving expensive gifts to a young person.  As I thought about my purchase through out the day and into the night, I decided that I had made a mistake.  So, the next day I returned it.  Costco is very good at returning purchases so as I explained my decision the two women at the counter agreed with me as they looked carefully to see if the seals had been tampered with.  Credit was applied to my card and I walked over to the camera department and once again looked at other SRL cameras. 

Without any hesitation I bought the $250 camera.  Even this price was a bit much so I decided that this gift would include Christmas.  You know not lavishing gifts on young people.

On her birthday I gave her a call through her father.  Oh I am sure she has a Smart Phone but I do not know her number. I got a message on his cell phone so I began awaiting his return phone call to wish my granddaughter a HAPPY BIRTHDAY. The phone rang in the afternoon and it was my granddaughter phoning me on her phone! We chatted for a bit including a Happy Birthday.  She enjoyed the camera already taking it outside to photograph some animals.  It’ fun to make people happy.

In retrospective, I think I understand what had happened regarding my buying her first present.  Of course much of it is a result of this age-gap thing which I guess will always be there when grandparents attempt to relate to their grandchildren.  Certainly the age-gap thing raised its ugly head when I began my adventure in buying her a camera.  Much of it has to do with wanting the best for your grandchild without spoiling her and that is a complicated thought process.  And of course, the big discount of several hundred dollars on that certain camera mudded the water even more.

I guess it all goes back to when I was her age in 1945.  World War II was about to end, which had dominated my understanding of life and money was an important factor for I was working that summer for 50 cents an hour and of course paying $250 for a camera back then would have been unthinkable.  I guess I will carry that baggage with me until I die. 

Written 2/15