The Gift of Memories

In the early 1960’s my Dad purchased a reel-to-reel video camera, and he would tape us kids and lots of our family activities. I think that began his fondness for video recording. The video quality was not very good back then and there was no audio on the recordings.
In the early 1980’s he updated his equipment to a VHS video camera. He would always have his camera out, recording for posterity all of the family events: birthdays, weddings and receptions, vacations, retirement parties, visits from out of town relatives, and of course, family vacations. I had long since left home and had moved to Rhode Island and married. My husband and I and our son would visit my family in the Midwest at least twice a year, but we still missed a lot of the major family events.
I can remember him asking us over the years, to sit and watch his videos with him. My brothers and sisters and I would often sit, but just for a few minutes and we would never really give them the attention they deserved.
The recordings stopped at the end of 1999 when Dad lost his eyesight. And then, we lost my dear Dad on Veteran’s Day two years ago. On a recent visit with my family, I volunteered to transfer his tapes to DVD because I feared that the tapes would break down over time. Besides, the tapes were just sitting there because no one watches VHS tapes anymore. I brought the big bin of video tapes home with me to Rhode Island and got to work right away. As I began transferring his tapes, I watched them to create an index of what was recorded on each tape. I discovered that I could step back in time and “attend” many family events that I had missed all those years ago. I was spellbound watching the videos, not only because I was seeing 30+ years of fun family times that I’d missed, but because I was seeing many relatives who are no longer with us and I was hearing their voices again. This included my Dad, as he usually narrated his videos as well as appearing in them. In addition, I was able to see some of the nieces’ and nephews’ (now in their 20’s and 30’s) milestones in their early life, such as first birthdays and/or their first steps. It was interesting to see some people who shied away from the camera in the early days become more comfortable with his camera over time and how they seemed to enjoy having him film the events.
I must admit, it was tough seeing Dad on video after losing him so recently. But before long, I found great comfort in seeing him on the tapes and hearing his voice again. I now feel a closeness to him that I haven’t felt in some time and I have been profoundly moved and touched by the privilege.
In the end, I made 35 DVDs and felt that it was imperative that I share them with the rest of my family, something that could not be done easily if they had remained on VHS tape. I have made a copy of each of the DVDs for my Mom and for each of my brothers and sisters. It’s exactly what he wanted – for us to watch his videos and share the precious memories from so long ago. We are all having a great time enjoying and reminiscing about the wonderful times that Dad knew were important to preserve. We are so thankful for the “gift of memories” Dad left for us!