Last night, in our quest to unpack and organize our basement, we stumbled upon a box of VHS tapes. Many of these tapes were filled with things that I had recorded from TV - a variety of stuff I thought was cool at the time. But, more precious than that - the ones with personal recordings: birthdays, Christmas, etc.
After Devin had set up the VHS machine, I popped in a tape. It flickered and some familiar faces came into view. It was from my sister Connie's bridal shower. As the camera moved around the room, the ladies introduced themselves and shared a story about Connie. Wow! Look at all those young faces. I progressed my way through the tape (and a couple of others) to witness Jo-Anne's bridal shower, a cute clip of the kids I used to babysit and multiple birthdays. It's funny to see such a similar scene each time we celebrated: Mum at the island, lighting candles on a homemade birthday cake, then carrying it over to the table as we would sing and the celebrated one blowing out the candles.
The thing that struck me about these tapes is that the content which we thought was important at the time (the gift that was being opened or the location of the event) is not at all what I want to see now. I want to see the faces and hear the voices of these beloved people 25+ years later!
As I watched the casual interactions of our family, I was struck by how much things have changed. I loved being transported back in time to when we all (or at least most of us) still lived at home. Mum was busy in the kitchen making dinner. My siblings were coming home from work at different times. (Jo-Anne madly chowing down on her pizza so we could serve the cake!) Dad constantly teasing someone. But, my most favourite part about this slice of life was the music. So many times we ended up in the living room in song. I loved seeing Jo-Anne & Connie pounding out a duet on the piano, only to be overtaken with laughter and couldn't get it just right. Then there was me during my hippy stage - strumming on Dad's guitar to an old folk song or a worship song from church. Then we were back to the piano and Connie was tickling the ivories while John played along on the guitar. And, of course, during all of these sessions, we were all singing along.
What a surprise to see Grammie & Grandad show up at multiple birthday parties. As their faces appeared on the screen, I was overwhelmed with how much I miss them. I could see and hear what they used to be like - in their younger days. Days I remember well, but what a treat to have a video representation to help my memory.
We also watched some of Devin's tapes and I got to see a four year old version of my husband. It was amazing to watch and listen to Cody's twin! Ha ha ha...so many times I said "that's Cody!"
We have many more tapes to make our way through, so we will be taking more trips down Memory Lane. Which is just fine by me - being the nostalgic gal that I am.
