About a month ago I posted about our Sunday Funday where we were finally able to find a VCR. Do People even still own these?
I have owned a few VCR’s in the last 7 or so years. Why?
Well, like a lot of people growing up in the 80s and 90s, my family owned a video camera. It sort of became customary to record special occasions like birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
I didn’t know it then, but these tapes would become some of my most treasured possessions.
I have started becoming more forgetful when it comes to remembering my earlier years of life. I remember being in kindergarten. I remember my brother Robert being born. I don’t remember moving, but I do remember our first house. I also remember the townhouse we lived in before that. I don’t remember a lot of the everyday things like waking up for school. I don’t remember what we ate. My memories just seem to be fading the older that I get (such is life right?).
The tapes that I still have are interesting to watch. A time when my parents were still married. I basically have a few holidays and birthdays from my first birthday until maybe my 5th birthday or so, on tape.
I love watching these because my grandparents are in them. I wish I was more thoughtful when they were alive to spend even more time with them, getting to know who they were. I love watching these videos because I am reminded of where I came from. My parents barely made it by (I didn’t know that then) and we always managed to have amazing Christmas gifts, even when there were 4 of us.
I suppose it reminds me of being innocent, before society and dysfunction took over my life.
Flash forward to today, Sunday, we did our usual Sunday things. I sleep in a little bit and then we go to Chris’ parent’s house. It’s what I love about Sundays. We were all in the basement (that’s where Pickle likes to be because of the toys) talking. Chris suddenly asked his mom if she still had home videos on VHS. She said she did and Chris asked her if he could take some.
Now, perhaps I am a weirdo, but I like being able to see/hear about my husband’s life growing up. Really, I like hearing/seeing about anyone’s because we are all living such different lives, it amazes me. I like to know where my husband came from, just because I am a curious person. I have always said it would be fun to be a fly on the wall to see our families before we existed. I like to see what people lived like, who they were, and how they have changed. Life in general interests me.
I have known my husband for almost 8 years now. Even in 8 years, there are many things I don’t know about him prior to meeting me. I have only known his family as who they have been for the last 8 years. I have always been curious to know about his grandfather whom he was close to. He passed before Chris and I met.
Needless to say, I like to know their stories. Time changes things and time changes people.
So tonight, Chris brought home about 7 VHS tapes for us to watch. We watched almost all of them back to back, keeping Chris up past his bed time. I really wish we both had more we could watch. The thing both our families had in common was that they only recorded special occasions (birthdays and christmas).
I don’t think we realized how much Poppy resembles Chris at this age. We were watching his first birthday video and the resemblance is just crazy! Genes are crazy!
I wish we both had more of just our everyday lives. The idea of vlogging just seems so necessary to me. I have been thinking about it for a few years now, but never got around to it. I don’t want to vlog to make money, heck I wouldn’t even make it public. I want to record memories. I want my kids to have something to watch as they are older or having children of their own. Such nostalgia occurs with these dang tapes! I want my kids to be able to have that. I don’t want them to have to question who we or their relatives were. I want it to be right there for them to see for themselves.
Sure we record random clips on our phones, but if we aren’t saving those somewhere safe then what good are they once the memories are wiped clean?
I need to look into ways to start storing these clips. Maybe an external hard drive or maybe an online storage site. I’m not sure yet. Whatever the answer is, I know one day my kids will treasure anything they do have just as I do the VHS tapes that we have.
-Jenn
Reclaiming My Sanity 