In Memory Of...

...my beloved external hardrive.

Folks, there is no such thing as toddler-proofing your home. There just isn't. Now, this whole scenario could have been avoided had I actually stored my stuff somewhere safer, but to be honest...between renovation, cats, and a busy toddler - where exactly would that be?

Today was going so well - my husband was home for the first weekend in a long time, the weather was great, I got to sleep in...and then it happened. Julian pulled down a canvas tote that SHOULD have been on the top shelf, but got mixed up with another one that was the same color (and therefore within his reach) and my external hardrive came crashing to the floor. I immediately plugged it in to try and use it, but my computer would not recognize it. It was a goner (insert total freak out here...because that's exactly what I did). Now, I do realize that there is a chance I can salvage the data that is on it - and I truly hope so - but at this point I don't dare to get my hopes up.

I'm sure there are lots of moms who realize why this is so devastating, but for those who don't - I have next to nothing stored on my actual laptop. I try to keep it cleared off so that it can run my editing programs, and so that I can load and unload sessions I'm working on without overloading my storage space, so routinely...I pull my personal pictures off and put them on the external - where I hoped they would be safe. That little black box contains my little boy's entire life in photos and videos, so this event has really taken it's toll on me. I am thankful that I can say though, that most - if not all - of his first year are safely stored on DVD's as I did actually start backing up some of my files to a second location 'just in case'...but the last 8-9 months of his life are severely at risk of being gone forever. His second Christmas, his first Easter egg hunt, his special moments with Grandma...times spent with his cousins, moments with me and Eddie...it breaks my heart to even think of it. So I think I need to just stop.

I will say, though...and I meant for this post to not be a whiney one...that I do have to pat myself on the back for at least one of my 'bad habits' that totally paid off - and that's my habit of forgetting to clear off memory cards. I have about 5 or 6 that I rotate - some don't hold much, others hold a lot, and I tend to always be in a situation of not having a cleared memory card because all of them are sitting in my camera bag with pictures still on them. Annoying then - but a blessing now. In an effort to make myself feel better about the whole thing, I just went through them all and discovered at least 500 pictures - nothing extraordinary...not even necessarily the ones I'd choose to save if I had the choice, but they are pictures of my baby, and they are safe on my hardrive...and still safe on their memory cards, and this gives me a little bit of peace of mind for now.

So please, say a little prayer for my external hardrive - that there might be a techno-savvy geek that exists SOMEWHERE that is going to perform miracle surgery and bring all my pictures back home safely to me....and for the love of Pete, if you haven't backed up your pictures of your loved ones - in at least two places - do it now.

:(