Blunt Trauma

The sickening blow came suddenly, without warning, just the way that accidental injuries always happen.

One second, parts are intact, working normally, and we take them for granted. The next, we wonder what we could have done to have avoided the pain, the dysfunction, the inconvenience we know will follow. And there’s not a thing we can do to put the genie back in the bottle; we just live with the consequences of the fickle finger of fate and hope for the best.

No, I’m fine. It’s my camera–specifically, the Nikkor 18-200 VR lens–that is on its way to the Nikon Hospital in NY. At work on Friday, the camera fell from about a foot while I was using it to photograph a patient’s exercises for her.

The lens filter is bent, and it just might be that, in addition to other internal damage, they won’t be able to get the damaged filter off because of the bent threads. It might be it can’t be fixed. A new replacement lens (oh how that would hurt my Goose Creek account!) might be hard to find; they’re on backorder most places.

I love that lens. (The camera, thankfully, is okay, and I’m back to the 18-80mm plus the luggable 80-200, for how long, I don’t know.)

I literally got sick at my stomach when it happened and for much of the day on Friday. But then I put my little crisis in perspective compared to the events of the noon news, or to recent events so close to home. All things considered, it’s only a scratch.