As noted in my previous post I had hopped on the decluttering wagon. While tidying up around the lily pad, I came across old slides that belonged to my husband. He wasn’t sure what was on them. I remembered that the library has audio visual equipment (both old and new) that can be checked out for just such situations. I began to formulate a plan. My library project is to read my way through the library and to take advantage of the many services offered, I decided that now was the time to do some exploring of the equipment that could be checked out. I had checked out old overheads in the past, but I had never checked out the slide projector. By viewing the slides, I would be able to appropriately put the “keepers” into some kind of logical order and be able to know what was on them.
Since my husband was back in college at the time, we had to make our own entertainment. I decided that we would do an old fashioned slide show complete with popcorn and drinks for our date night. This somewhat reminded me of old fashioned home movie night back in the day. It was exciting since we didn’t know what our “show” was going to be about.. I teased my husband asking him if he had anything to confess before we viewed the slides. I’m not sure he always appreciates my sense of humor. Approaching the big date night, I checked out the slide projector and an extra carousel. A few days later I also checked out a large movie screen on a tripod stand. I purchased our drinks and popcorn from a local store. Both carousels were loaded with slides. The night of the big date finally arrived. All that was left to do was pop the popcorn and set up the screen and the projector.
Though this wasn’t the most romantic date night, it did turn out to be rather comical. In the first place I had never used a slide projector and didn’t even know how to load one. While I was popping the popcorn, my helpful husband was setting up the projector. This went well until he picked up the carousels I had loaded. Who knew that slides can only be loaded from one direction? Needless to say when he picked up the carousels, all of the slides fell out all over the floor. We’re talking about a lot of slides! We got a good laugh out of that. Determined, I patiently reloaded the slides from the correct side this time and the carousel was set in place. My husband had previously had to use slide projectors for former jobs. We decided he would be the projector operator. Lights went out and the “show” had begun.
Our “show” was quite interesting since apparently not only do the slides have to be loaded from the top of the carousel, it seems that they also have to be loaded forward and right side up! So, some of the slides looked right, some were presented in mirror image, some were sideways or upside down. We were certainly getting practice in spatial relations! The slides themselves turned out to be a mixture of former college days, nature pictures, various airplanes, and Germany. Many of the slides had to be narrated by my husband so I would know what I was looking at. I learned a lot about him that night that I didn’t know before. A few of the slides were of friends my husband had before I met him. This prompted him to tell me stories of his life I hadn’t heard before.
Overall I would say it was a good date night with moments of comic relief. I loved learning more about my husband. I also loved being able to get the slides organized into general catefories and stored correctly. I’m grateful to the Fulton County Public Library for use of equipment, making a memorable night with my husband possible.
Dewey Hop 