My husband recently purchased me a much needed new fangled digital camera. I had hassled one too many times with the old one and finally whined enough to warrant a trip to the electronics store. I stood staring at the long table of cameras with various gadgets with the glazed-over look of a non-techie and was immediately lost. The sales guy eventually swaggered over and gave me a tour. I finally settled on one simple camera with automatic everything (and no, I did not need the hyper-zoom so that I can capture half a football field away sounds like a stalker device option). One particular feature that caught my attention was the Ai button. What is this you ask and what does it have to do with illness and recovery? Let me tell you what it does.
That main trouble I was having with the old camera, besides the fact that it ate batteries like the plant in Little Shop of Horrors, is that I couldn't get the focus right. I have to take a lot of close-up shots for ebay and other things that I sell. I kept getting blurry pics no matter how I tried to adjust the dang thing. This is a problem. You can't sell merchandise with blurry photos and look serious. I had to keep pushing DELETE! It drove me crazy and took up time, thus the new purchase. The little gem called the Ai button is located on top of the camera next to the shudder button so that when you push it, it kicks into "Auto Intelligence" and can automatically recognize faces, objects, landscape, etc. It adjusts the lense by itself and presto, perfect picture for me! The best is the close-up option. It recognizes close objects and takes crystal clear pictures.
This Ai button thing got me thinking about myself. I had been out of focus. I was dwelling on things of no long-term importance. Life became dull and mundane. Even my relationship with God was slipping. I began to ask myself what it was all for. I had recently became an empty-nester with two grown children. I was a parent most of my life starting very young at nineteen years old. What now? Then the Ai button got pushed. I was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. We all dread the Big C don't we? It's all around us. It threatens us from across the ocean in a big radiation cloud or lurks in bottled water plastic. Most of us know someone who has had it or have had it ourselves. I can tell you that I have asked the man upstairs that if I get the chance, I would like the first crack at it on Judgement Day. Let me at it! How dare you steal my health, friends, and loved ones?! WHACK!
You know what? When that button got pushed things came into focus for me. What and who was really important became crystal clear. I automatically recognized faces, objects, landscape. Colors were brighter. Flowers smelled sweeter. Family and friends became precious again. My far away relationship with God got the close-up view that it deserved and became clear again. I don't ask what now anymore. I am enjoying life as it comes one day after the next. To sum it all up....one digital camera about a hundred bucks. The Ai button.....priceless!
