Preserving the memories

By Peyton

Memories are so important to me. When I was 10, there were six of us (my grandparents lived with my parents, brother and me). My grandmother passed away when I was 11, very suddenly. My grandfather died when I was 14, and my father when I was 17. (The dog followed three years after that when I was 20, so when I turned 23 I was terrified that someone in my family was going to pass away. Fortunately, that didn't happen!)  For some reason, my family never really caught on to the camcorder or VCR when I was younger. As a result, we only have one recording (audio or visual) of my father before he died, and none of my grandparents.

When I was home a few months ago, my mother handed me the VCR tape of my father's 1991 appearance on a morning talk show to discuss the Myrle Beach, S.C., Air Force Base closure (he was an attorney). She told me that she was entrusting me with it because it was broken and she knew I could find someone to fix it. For a few months, it sat in the basement of our house because I had no idea what to do with it -- we don't even have a VCR anymore.

Our friend Jim came over a couple of weeks ago, and I remembered that he owned his own company doing litigation support work (including electronic discovery). I asked him if he could take the tape, restore it, and have it put on a DVD. A few days ago, I got a box from his company, with a DVD, the VCR tape, and a bunch of chocolate in it.

I raced up to my desk at work and put in the DVD. It took me a little while to figure out where on the recording my father was, but all of a sudden -- there he was. He was talking and gesturing and smiling, even. My hand flew up to my mouth and my eyes welled up with tears. I had forgotten so much! I didn't remember his strong Southern accent, or even the pitch of his voice. I had forgotten how his eyes crinkled up in the corners whenever he grinned. But there he was -- over eight years later -- on my computer at work. 

Right then and there, I vowed to do a better job of preserving my family's memories. I want my daughter to know who my father was when she grows up. I want to be able to look back on her childhood and see her crawling and giggling, not just to remember it. And should anything, God forbid, happen to someone in my family, I don't want to just have one scratchy recording of that person. I want something my family members can see.

My husband never knew my father, and I know that nothing will ever bring my father or grandparents back. They will live on in our memories, however.

I just want those memories to be a little bit fresher.

Peyton is Mommy to Ella, born October 2004, and wife to Colin. She lives outside of D.C. in Falls Church, Virginia.

Comments

[Robin P]

For my Dad's 50th birthday,my mom bought him a VCR and put all our reel to reel tapes on a video for him. This was back in 1986. I remember watching this video with Dad as he cried his heart out when he saw his own father on the tape. His father had died at age 47 when I was an infant.

All I could think about at that moment was,"One day,I'll be watching this and crying because my dad will be gone," and it made me so sad. One year later,Dad died of a heart attack at 51.

It took me four years before I could watch that video. It kills me to watch it even to this day but I am so glad we have it.

On another note,when my sister Kara was a little girl,I used to tape her on my tape recorder. When she was about 3,I was 15,and we were talking on the tape in her room. Just then,Dad came home and Kara sang,"My Daddy's home,My Charlie's home...." Then you hear Kara say,"Hi Dad," and he says,"Hi Babe."
Well, I transfered that tape on to a tiny tape to put in a scrap book and when you push the button,that's what you hear. I put that in the scrap book that I made for Kara's 30th birthday. She was just turning 13 when Dad died. We cry every time we hear his voice. We loved that voice.
The video we have is without sound so this is the only recording of Daddy's voice. We treasure it.

I am all for preserving family history!!
Great post!

[Alex]

I am moved. And agree.