Home Video Advice

It’s Father’s Day weekend, and I find myself home alone, doing some backup maintenance on our home videos. I’m loving watching some of these old videos, some almost 17 years old. It’s beyond description getting to see the faces of family that are no longer with us — my Dad, Angela’s grandparents — and to get to hear their voices again. These videos are priceless to me. I wish we had more, especially of my Dad, so let me pass on this advice:

When you’re at a family gathering (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, birthdays, whatever) and you find yourself taking videos, make sure you get “the crowd”. There may be someone blowing out candles or opening a present, but scan the room. Get video of parents, grandparents, great grandparents, cousins, nephews, nieces, friends, party crashers. Get them speaking. One way or another, there’s going to come a day when you won’t be able to see those people again. You’re going to want see them — you’re going to want to hear their voices — and those videos are going to be the closest you’re going to get to speaking to that person again on this earth. Trust me. You’ll be glad you “wasted” the space.