"We spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are
threescore and ten . . . "
Sorry to write such a long message, but this is important to me.
Yesterday was my dad's 70th birthday. His name is Gayle, which means
"her father's joy." (I guess my grandparents didn't do their research.)
Fathers come in all varieties, and among other things, mine was one who
was enthusiastic about just about anything that caught my
interest--including OMs. When I spent nearly my entire bank account on an
OM-1 and 50mm lens as an 8th grader in 1976, he was the one who found
something extra for the 75-150mm and later, a 24mm Zuiko. As I was
rediscovering Olympus in the early 1990s, Dad obligingly shared the
interest again. As an educator, his time was a little more flexible than
most, and he could occasionally slip off to a morning swap meet. In the
pre-eBay years, he snagged a couple of bargain Zuikos and gave them to
me, including a couple of 50s, a 100, and a 200. One day, however, he was
exceptionally lucky and found a chrome OM-2 sitting on a seller's
blanket. But another customer was closer and had seen it first. "How
much?" asked the customer. "$20," said the seller. The customer put it
back on the blanket and Dad pounced. That OM-2 gave him good service for
a year but then quit. A Shutterbug reader at the time, I had located a
"bargain" Olympus repair service in the advertising pages and sent it in.
The camera worked for another year and then quit again. By that time, I
had discovered this list and had learned about John Hermanson, so I sent
it to John (www.zuiko.com). It has, of course, worked flawlessly ever
since, and has been an excellent host to the Zuiko zoom lenses that dad
has received on birthdays. (I have the primes, Dad has the zooms.) About
2 years ago, dad retired. Having been a minister, a teacher, & a school
principal, it was surprising to see him become increasingly shy and
taciturn. I had missed some of the transformation during the hectic year
of my dissertation, but upon graduating and returning to California, I
found him to be distinctly more pensive and withdrawn. I mentioned this
to his physician. I thought perhaps if Dad and I spent some time
together, he would come out of his shell. So, when I drove up to Las
Vegas to meet Gary Reese and provide Zuikosamples for his lens tests, I
took Dad along. It was an odd trip, because dad would only speak when
spoken to. He would not volunteer a comment or utter a word unless
prompted, and he found nothing on the trip interesting, except breakfast
at the Casino where we stayed. Gary Reese probably remembers him only as
a shy, retiring old man who was eager to be helpful but generally
disinterested in conversation. This was a very different personality from
the enthusiastic, take-charge, interested-in-anything Dad that I knew.
After the trip, I again called Dad's physician and pointedly commented on
his personality change. Eventually, the physicians found a brain tumor in
Dad's cerebellum. He survived the surgery and targeted (proton) radiation
in good shape, and within several weeks, wanted to hit a swap meet. I
recall his walking most of the swap meet, and riding in the wheel chair
for only the last portion of it. When the physicians thought Dad had
recovered sufficiently from the surgery, they performed a routine
preventive procedure for brain cancer survivors: full-brain radiation. I
found out later that, while no choice (and precious little information)
is given to the patient or his family about this procedure, full-brain
radiation is performed because there is about a 30 hance that a brain
tumor will recur. Thus, full-brain radiation is a safe and conservative
strategy (from a health provider's standpoint), but had disastrous
results. Since radiation, dad has virtually lost his ability to walk and
to control a host of voluntary, involuntary, and cognitive functions that
you and I take for granted. For the past year and a half, he has been
interested in nothing, says nothing, does nothing. As he says, "I know
I'm not right." He has essentially become another, different person since
radiation. Occasionally, a fragment of the old dad will float across his
person and quickly vanish. The only thing that holds his interest for
more than a moment are beautiful things. He will stare for hours at
something he considers to be beautiful. This gave me an idea, so I
contacted Morgan Sparks for a skin for Dad's old OM-2
(http://homepages.together.net/~msparks/leathers/index.html). I told him
this was to be a birthday present for Dad, and Morgan sent me a beautiful
natural lizard skin. Unfortunately, I omitted mention that Dad's camera
had the less common square, rather than rectangular, MD badge. Morgan
offered to create a special skin, and asked that I send the original skin
for him to use as a template. I did so, but I sent the skins during the
Xmas rush. Despite delivery tracking, a "temp" postal worker failed to
deliver the package (which contained both the original synthetic skin and
Morgan's rectangular-badge lizard skin. I offered to pay for Morgan's
lost skin but he would not hear of it.) Morgan contacted John Hermanson
for a sample of a square-badge skin, and the two of them worked together
to create a new template, allowing Morgan to make a custom skin for Dad's
camera. The skin arrived in time for me to re-cover Dad's camera, to add
a "focus-noncritical" 28mm Zuiko (complete with Olympus filter and
"funnel"), and present it to Dad for his 70th birthday. His eyes widened
as he recognized his old OM-2 in the sumptuous new covering, and I could
tell that he was touched as I told him how Morgan and John had rushed his
custom skin to me in time for his birthday. I caught him playing with the
camera and peeking through it while he was alone--it's a rare thing for
dad to do anything but stare or sleep when unattended. This is a good
sign! I think that on my next visit I'll take him to a local arboretum
and see if he is interested in taking pictures of flowers with his
stunning, leather-skinned OM. To Morgan and John I say: your kindness to
this old man on his birthday will not be forgotten. You can see Dad and
his camera at http://home.earthlink.net/~rhoadside/om/bday.jpg
Kelton
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