[Leica] a nice gift at a sad time

[ricc at embarqmail.com (Ric Carter)]

He has likely to have lived long enough to understand the joy of passing 
that camera to a loving user who will explain its beauty to his 
grandchildren.

He is also safe in knowing it will not be cast off misunderstood or 
appreciated.

Now, do the same things with it he did!

We look forward to you sharing.

Ric Carter
www.CartersXRd.net
http://www.facebook.com/ric.carter


On Feb 4, 2013, at 5:43 PM, Ruben Bl?del <ruben at rhodos.dk> wrote:

> My father in law is 88 years old and has worked as a doctor almost all his 
> life in developing countries in Africa.
> Before he was stationed in Ethiopia in the late 1950ties and just a few 
> months after my wife was born he bought a Leica M3 with a Summicron 50 mm 
> 2.0 with near field specs and a Leica meter. That Leica followed him to 
> Ethiopia and later to Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. It was serviced at Leica 
> a couple of times due to fungi and other "illnesses" from being in the 
> humidity of the tropics but is in really good condition. All pictures of 
> my wife and her brothers growing up in Africa was shot with that wonderful 
> camera.
> This weekend I visited my father in law together with my wife and my two 
> daughters
> We had not seen him for a 5 weeks since as he needed peace trying to 
> recover from two cancer operations.
> He was very weak but insisted on sitting with us for a cup of tea.
> I lost my father last year so I know what is going trough my wifes and 
> children's heads - all the questions they would like to ask - the fear of 
> loosing him etc.
> It was tough trying not to show him how worried we all are.
> He is due for another surgery Thursday and the odds are not to good
> At the end of our visit he need to rest but just before we left he called 
> me and asked me if I would go into his study and fetch a box on his desk
> I had no idea  what was going on, but i did bring the box to him, and he 
> opened it and asked me If I would like to have his Leica because he 
> thought that I would be the one that could bring it to good use.
> I was very proud and honored - and yet very sad because it felt like by 
> accepting this great gift from him, I also realized  that it might be his 
> way of saying that he would not be around for much longer - I guess 
> doctors have a way of knowing these kind of things.
> I feel the best way I can show my gratitude is by bringing it to good use 
> and shoot some beautiful pictures - I have not used analog for a while - 
> at work I no longer use slides but a Canon 5d 3 with - but I still have 
> some rolls of Efke B&W 25 ISO film - I actually look forward to use analog 
> again and especially with the close focus ability of the 50 summicron.
> It might not be right away - but I will post a link when I get some film 
> through the old M3
> Have a lovely evening
> Ruben
> 
> 
> 
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