Friday, August 14, by Gabrielle Martin
Eight years ago this summer, the Sayian family were on their annual vacation to Martha’s Vineyard.
Adrienne, the Sayian’s youngest child (age 23), shares, “Every year we would sail to the Vineyard and stay in Edgartown Harbor for a couple of nights. On this day in particular, my parents were on the boat while I was ashore with a friend. My mother was taking pictures of some of the boats, and dropped the camera towards the stern end of the boat. I don’t remember the exact date we lost the camera, but I do know that it was around my birthday.”
Eight years later, while celebrating her twenty-third birthday, Adrienne received a message from a friend saying that a picture of her had been posted on Hingham Pinboard: “There was a picture of my mother and I in a kayak, and a picture of me with my school friends, but I had never seen these photos before! I was alarmed and confused as to how they ended up on Facebook,” Sayian says. The moment she saw the post, the pictures, and the crustacean-covered camera, Adrienne remembered!
Stephan and Gwendolyn Sayian were in disbelief when their daughter shared the news; although they don’t have the camera physically in their possession yet, they said that just seeing the photographs was an amazing experience.
Adrienne admits rediscovering the lost memories was a sentimental experience. “Seeing all those pictures brought back a lot of emotions!” She says. “A big one was seeing an old pet of mine, a guinea pig named Casey, who passed away this past March at the age of eight. We’ve had guinea pigs for a total of 14 years, and we would take them on our sailboat every summer. The summer of 2012 was the first summer we had Casey on our boat, and seeing the pictures of her was crazy!”
The camera’s SanDisk also included photos of Adrienne with friends from middle school, the family kayaking, vacationing on the Vineyard, and the Sayian’s eldest, Grant’s, 24th birthday.
Adrienne admits, “We don't own our sailboat anymore, as both my parents have grown more towards lake life in Maine due to their age; however, every summer we think about our Vineyard trips and how much we miss them. Receiving the news that our camera was found makes us remember, and remember that all things happen for a reason, and that there is always hope.”
It just goes to show, no matter how lost something may seem, it may find its way back to you one day!
The camera’s contents were discovered by Glen and Catherine Jackson of Raynham, Massachusetts. Glen, a police rescue diver, discovered the camera while diving off Edgartown near Mooring #6.
The couple had knocked something overboard themselves and Glen had gone to look for it. His wife Catherine shares, “We couldn’t find what we lost, but he found the camera that he thought was a radio!”
Even though it wasn’t what they were looking for, Catherine was curious about the contents of the camera. She became committed to discovering what it contained! She says, “I picked all the crustaceans off of it, rinsed it off, and used a screwdriver and hammer to open it to find its’ SD card.”
When she finally found the card, it wouldn’t load, but Catherine would not be deterred; after all, she was determined, so she dried it out over an air conditioner. She says that’s when she found success! Catherine recalls, “Half an hour later, my laptop recognized the card! I saved all the photos and started posting.”
The Jacksons noticed someone in one of the snapshots was wearing Hingham apparel. “We were hoping the boy with the Hingham Lacrosse shirt was a hint.” She posted these images on Facebook; that’s when Meghan Broden Marcella, a member of Hingham Pinboard 3.0, shared Jackson’s post with the Pinboard.
Catherine admits, “It was especially great because it was Adrienne’s birthday.”
Maybe in another eight years, someone will return the Jackson’s lost item to them and continue the cycle!
I’m always amazed by the power of word-of-mouth in our close-knit community, and by the miraculous magic of coincidences like these. Thank you to everybody who was interviewed to better share the story of the Sayian’s reclaimed camera with The Anchor.
Such a terrific story.
Exactly what we need during these challenging times…Good News!
Thank you.