Before my senior year in high school, my parents did an awesome thing: They sent me away to Europe for a couple of weeks with some friends.

It was an absolute blast.

An absolute blast that was well documented, thanks to a then-state-of-the-art video camera I bought with some birthday money that year.

Since that trip, my video camera became one of my most prized possessions.

College road trips, sorority functions and church events have all been captured on my trusty Sony.

The only problem is, as with most technology, the older the camera got – the more cumbersome it appeared compared to newer cameras. In fact, while filming a powder puff tournament, a couple of my sorority sisters nicknamed the camera “Mom Cam,” since it looked like a camera a soccer mom would bring to her kids’ games. I was also routinely asked to bring Capri Suns and orange slices along with the camera.

Nevertheless, Mom Cam always provided some of the best laughs, and, in some cases, blackmail material.

Anyway, last week, I pulled out the camera in order to look for some footage. The camera is so old it has to be hooked up to the TV in order to play its own 8mm tapes.

And that’s when it happened; the camera died.

I was mournful for a good five minutes, remembering all of the memories I shared with ole Mom Cam. Then, I had a worse thought: How am I going to watch any of these tapes?

I made a couple of calls, and a couple of people told me I could easily find an adapter for the 8mm tapes at one of the electronic stores in town.

Easily.

Well, seven stores, a half a tank of gas and the better part of my Saturday afternoon later, it turns out I cannot easily find an adapter, because an 8mm tape adapter is a rare find these days. In fact, one store employee told me my best bet was to go looking in thrift stores in hopes that someone discarded theirs.

Side note: People need to stop saying Wal-Mart is destroying niche businesses. I went to three electronic stores first, and each told me I should go to Wal-Mart. So, clearly, even the little guys are dependent on the big guy. And, for the record, Wal-Mart did not have it, either.

Anyway, I’m now taking my adapter search online, so, if anyone has a good lead for me, let me know. There are some especially hilarious escapades involving six high school seniors in line for the Eiffel Tower that depend on it.