A NEW CAMERA TURNS OUT TO BE A TREASURE HUNTER

Not long ago, I upgraded my digital camera in order to take high-resolution shots for some freelance work. After upgrading, I passed my old camera along to my four-year-old son, who had absolutely loved his toy camera.

My son spent the next week wandering around our home and property, taking photographs of all kinds of things. He took some great shots with unusual angles that brought beauty to the ordinary as well as a lot of clunkers and a few funny pictures too.

One particular photograph was extremely interesting. The shot was very dark, and the only thing we could make out was that it appeared to be a photo of a tight space with something shiny off to one side.

Something about this particular photograph caught my attention. I kept studying it, trying to figure out what on earth it was. I asked my son where he had taken it. He wasn’t sure, but he had some guesses.

We then went on a lengthy scavenger hunt, looking in various spots where my son thought he had taken a picture. Under his bed? Nope, but we did find an overdue library book there. Under the couch? Just a bit of dust. Behind the overstuffed chair in the living room? Apparently, that was my daughter’s new hiding place for toys.

Finally, we wound up under the bed in the guest room. It was dark, so I flipped on a flashlight as my son climbed underneath. I immediately recognized the spot. As we shined the flashlight around the space, I finally discovered what the shiny thing was: a long-lost piece of heirloom jewelry, passed down in our family for many generations.

How did it wind up under the bed? Our best guess is that one of the times our children were allowed to look at this jewelry they kept one of the items on their fingers or in a pocket, and it fell off later in the day.

I had no idea that buying a new digital camera would allow me to recover that old ring or that it would encourage my young son to become a budding photographer.