Dilemma: What to Do with Old Slides?

At the back of my closet sit several containers of old slides, most dating back to my 10 years in Israel (1965-75).

Slides seemed like a good idea at the time - they were an inexpensive new technology, they provided pictures in color, and they could be made into pictures. I airmailed my film to North America to be developed, and the slides were delivered to my parents' home, where they were enjoyed until I eventually got to see them.

But for years now, nobody has looked at them.

From time to time, I think about going through them and either developing some into photos or transferring all into a digital format, so that I could see them again - and share them - without hauling out the old slide projector. (I have one of those gathering dust in the closet, too!)

I even bought a slide scanner a few years ago, planning to transfer the slide images to my computer - but that was harder than it looked. I never figured out how to do it, so I gave up... The past few days, I've tried again. Now a second problem is finding (among our old computers) which is compatible with the scanner!

Like a lot of things I abandon, I have to learn a lot before I get the results I want. Is this how I want to spend my day?! Something more pressing or more interesting gets in the way and it never gets done. Eventually the technology changes, too.

In the meantime, I notice that several local businesses still transfer slides to DVDs. I'm very tempted to go that route. But before paying a fee per slide, I should go through them all to see which are worth saving.... That takes time, too! Is it any wonder the task never gets done?!

Hopefully I won't abandon the task again before I actually find a way to get it done. There are a lot of memories in those boxes - memories I'd like to pass on.