That was then, this is now

Since Paddy always complains about the ridiculous pictures I take with my phone, when I was looking for something else recently and found our old digital camera instead, I decided to try that one. I especially wanted to take a picture of the construction site below our balcony that has been driving us mad all summer and add it to other pictures of construction sites in Linz to express my irritation at this kind of preparation for European Capital of Culture next year.

Taking a picture of the construction site didn't work very well, because there was a big colorful streetcar blocking the view (but not the noise!). Christopher was a bit startled at having his picture taken on the balcony as I wandered around trying out the camera, Paddy and Omar just ignored me. The next glitch was when I discovered that our old camera is so old that it doesn't communicate with my laptop. Foraging through a drawer full of cables just made a mess without producing anything useful. A few days ago I was in town, so I bought a card reader, which now mediates nicely between the old camera and my new laptop.

What I found on the old camera surprised me, though. Among pictures of Peter's instruments I found pictures from Christmas 2005, which reminded me of how this blog got its name: that was the Christmas in between Christopher's episodes of meningitis. Looking at the pictures, I remembered shopping for Christmas presents with him, seeing him looking so drawn and exhausted, and as we talked about Christmas plans, in the back of my mind there was a different script constantly running, quietly preparing a "plan B", in case he was back in the hospital for Christmas.

Looking at the pictures made me sad, but it is all the more encouraging to see the difference: that was then, this is now.