Zapped!!!!

One thousand six hundred twenty three photos...

That's how many I took on our recent trip to New York City.

That's also how many photos I lost.

Gone. Poof. Zapped.

One thousand six hundred twenty three...

That would also be the new addition to my ever-growing collection of grey hair.

I'm not really sure what happened...I DO know that we (fortunately) had not one, not two, but FIVE cameras snapping away during our 10-day vacation. With three iPhones between us, along with a Nikon Coolpix, as well as the "Big Momma", a Nikon D50, we had a camera in every hand. We didn't use all the cameras at all times, but we always had at least ONE camera capturing the memories at any given time. Upon arriving home, I took the memory cards from the two Nikons and uploaded the photos to my laptop. I've done it a million times. Should be easy peasy, right?

The photos uploaded with no problem into iPhoto, and as I was viewing them, they suddenly - without any warning - disappeared.

Poof. Zapped. El blanko.

No.

NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNOOO!

I blinked - and looked again, hoping against hope that they've just gone temporarily missing.

Nope. They're gone.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!

Pretty much hyperventilating at this point, and on the verge of a heart attack, I'm now desperately trying to retrieve them. I click and click and search and point and click again on my laptop, to no avail. I check my back-up disc - no luck. No photos. I check my hidden files on the laptop - no luck. No photos.

The pictures are GONE!!!!!

At this point, Hubby walks in the door, and asks me how my day has gone. I bravely answer, "Fine," but with my voice shaking, my hands trembling, and being on the verge of tears - Hubby can pretty much tell that I am NOT fine. No, indeed.

"What's wrong?" he asks, suddenly very concerned.

"Nothing," I reply...but then knowing I'm a terrible liar, I add, "Well, something IS wrong, horribly wrong, but I don't want to tell you. Because you'll say, 'I told you so,' and you won't feel a bit sorry for me."

Because this is true. Over the years, Hubby has always told me that I should NEVER, EVER delete photos off the memory cards of the camera after uploading them to my laptop...and over the years, I have NEVER, EVER listened to him. If I'd listened to him in this case, I'd still have my photos.

So, Hubby answers, "Fine. You don't need to tell me," and begins to walk away.

"Fine." I reply..."Since you've forced me, I'll tell you...." and I tell him what happened.

How was I going to write an EPIC review on my blog - without the supporting photos to add to the story??!!

To his credit, he didn't go into all "I told you so" mode. And he DID remind me that we had three iPhones that had photos - so not ALL was lost. He was actually pretty supportive. I guess he had to be - his wife was on the verge of a mental breakdown combined with a heart attack.

Later that night, I went back to my laptop, and began googling "lost photos on iPhoto" - and I found a suggestion on how to possibly restore the photos. Without anything further to lose, I followed the steps, and after running a program for a very long two hours - a miracle happened.

The photos were back.

Yes. All one thousand six hundred and twenty three.

Thank you, Jesus.

Whew.

Lesson learned: Hubby is right. Do NOT delete your memory cards after uploading photos to a computer.

I wish I could say that I zapped the one thousand six hundred and twenty three new grey hairs - but unfortunately, they're still hanging around.

Peace.