your first day

Dear Augosto.

This picture was taken with your mom's Mac(a brand of computer that we hope is still alive & kicking when you are trying to make a life for yourself). It wasn't easy. I had to maneuver the camera lens just right so I wouldn't just have a picture of a your arm or your big toe or half of your face. :)

After you were born, I took many pictures of you with our digital camera. Some with your mom. Some with grandmother Lopez. Then, I attempted to download the pictures but I couldn't because I was unable to find the "magic" cord that allows me to transfer pictures on the camera to the Mac.

I looked everywhere for that cord but no luck.

When your dad was a kid, we didn't need cords to get the pictures out of the camera. We just used film. We put the film in the camera, took pictures, and when we were done all we had to do was drop off the film and get the pictures a few days later. Today, film is almost non-existent. Everybody uses digital. Yet, in our rush to modernize, it seems like we lost something that we had when we used film. It seems that nobody really prints pictures anymore. They store them on their computers or in their phones. Yet, stored photos don't seem as personal as actual printed photos. Having an actual photo of someone shows how much you care about someone. Because it takes effort to have a photo printed nowadays. I have one of your mom in my wallet. And soon I'll have one of you.

I don't think I'm being a pessimist when I say that film will most likely be extinct when you are older. I feel I'm being more of a realist.

But I am also an optimist from time to time.

I do hope when you are older that everything in our society has shifted to being a cordless. I have to admit that many products have been invented or at least re-imagined in order to help our country take major strides towards cordlessness. The cell phone. The laptop. The remote control. But for some reason, our camera still has to be plugged into something in order to put the pictures on a computer. And we can't just use any ol' cord. We have to use a special one. One that is quite expensive, especially if we had to buy it again just because I wasn't able to remember where I placed it(remember what I said about my memory?).

Don't worry though. Even if I have to flip over the couch and dig under places I don't usually fit, I'll find the cord and post more pictures when I can.

Love.

Dad.