Near Melt Down Averted!
Phew!
I finally remembered to bring back a very cherished, sentimental photograph of my father and me when I was a baby when I came back from Melbourne the other weekend. I'm not sure if I've made mention of this before, but my Dad died when I was in high school (many, many years ago now....). And despite the fact that I was a teenager when that happened, the only photograph I have of him is the one from when I was a toddler.
I love it. It always makes me smile, because you can tell, even as a baby, I had my dad totally wrapped around my little finger.
It's an original with no negative so my brother refused to entrust it to Australia Post. (Sometimes the boy shows real flashes of brilliance...) Hence the three year wait until I got the picture back. Needed to be settled, but more importantly, needed to remember to bring it back with me. (If it's not on a list, the chances of me remembering are limited..)
As I was leaving though, my brother stopped me and asked if I was leaving him a copy. I was dumbfounded.
Now - if I didn't tell you my Dad was no longer alive, I'm sure I didn't give all the background as to why a request like this would stop me in my tracks. To say that my older two brothers had a strained relationship with my father would be.... ummmm..... accurate.
Nevertheless, I was more than happy to offer to make a copy and mail one back to him.
So yesterday I took my picture and entrusted it to the local photo shop for copying. I mentioned that there were a couple of marks on the original and it's slightly yellowed. They agreed to touch up the marks on the copy and brighten the photograph.
I went to pick it up today and, you guessed it, near melt down! Nothing's ruined, but it's just not right. They blew it up too big so the faces are blurry and the colours have been changed, not brightened.
I must be maturing because although I felt like melting into tears out of sheer frustration, I mostly kept it together and calmly explained why it wasn't okay. Well, calmly might be an overstatement. My voice was a slightly higher pitch than normal and when I explained it was a very important photograph my eyes started misting and my voice started to quiver.
Amazingly, the woman in the shop seemed to get it and she quietly reassured me that they would do another copy and I could come in and check it - which if it wasn't right, they would do again until it was.
Crisis averted. That woman deserves a bonus.
I finally remembered to bring back a very cherished, sentimental photograph of my father and me when I was a baby when I came back from Melbourne the other weekend. I'm not sure if I've made mention of this before, but my Dad died when I was in high school (many, many years ago now....). And despite the fact that I was a teenager when that happened, the only photograph I have of him is the one from when I was a toddler.
I love it. It always makes me smile, because you can tell, even as a baby, I had my dad totally wrapped around my little finger.
It's an original with no negative so my brother refused to entrust it to Australia Post. (Sometimes the boy shows real flashes of brilliance...) Hence the three year wait until I got the picture back. Needed to be settled, but more importantly, needed to remember to bring it back with me. (If it's not on a list, the chances of me remembering are limited..)
As I was leaving though, my brother stopped me and asked if I was leaving him a copy. I was dumbfounded.
Now - if I didn't tell you my Dad was no longer alive, I'm sure I didn't give all the background as to why a request like this would stop me in my tracks. To say that my older two brothers had a strained relationship with my father would be.... ummmm..... accurate.
Nevertheless, I was more than happy to offer to make a copy and mail one back to him.
So yesterday I took my picture and entrusted it to the local photo shop for copying. I mentioned that there were a couple of marks on the original and it's slightly yellowed. They agreed to touch up the marks on the copy and brighten the photograph.
I went to pick it up today and, you guessed it, near melt down! Nothing's ruined, but it's just not right. They blew it up too big so the faces are blurry and the colours have been changed, not brightened.
I must be maturing because although I felt like melting into tears out of sheer frustration, I mostly kept it together and calmly explained why it wasn't okay. Well, calmly might be an overstatement. My voice was a slightly higher pitch than normal and when I explained it was a very important photograph my eyes started misting and my voice started to quiver.
Amazingly, the woman in the shop seemed to get it and she quietly reassured me that they would do another copy and I could come in and check it - which if it wasn't right, they would do again until it was.
Crisis averted. That woman deserves a bonus.
posted by lala at
6:42 PM
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