I love pictures. I love looking at anyone's family photos. They are literally moments frozen in time. Can you put a price on such a thing? I thank my mom for owning a camera and using it over the course of my childhood. I am trying to do the same for my kids, though I doubt that boys appreciate it as much as girls. Sure; there are pictures that are horribly embarassing, but I've grown to love those as well. I have an entire album on my facebook dedicated to those less-than-flattering pictures. It's easier to laugh at them when a few years have passed.
A couple of nights ago, we were reminiscing about some of Brady's quirks he had as a toddler. Of course, he has no memories of these things. Thankfully, we managed to capture some of them on video. He spent most of yesterday watching old family videos. A few years ago, I transferred all of our tapes to DVDs. I didn't put them in chronological order. So, when you choose one to watch, it's a hodge podge of various events. I sort of like that. It makes them more interesting.
After going through a couple of videos, we found the one we'd been looking for. It was a clip of Brady at about 22 months old. He jabbered on incessantly at this age. You couldn't understand a tenth of what he said, but that didn't stop him. He told stories with the greatest gusto. You could hear the inflection of a question or exclamation, but you never knew what he was talking about. I can remember specifically getting the camera out to capture just such a rant. So often we would put these things off and fail to put them on film. I purposely took him outside and told him to take me on a tour of our place. We had only gone a short distance when we ran across Reuben's grandpa, Papa John. He loved to tell a tale, too; so, he especially enjoyed listening to Brady. We stood there for a few minutes listening to Brady ramble on before moving on to see our horse at the barn. Watching this yesterday, Reuben said, "I wish you'd have gotten more of Papa John." The camera had only briefly panned up to him. I told him I knew what he meant, but at the time you're just thinking of catching all the cute things the kids do. You see, Papa John has been gone from us for years now. He's still alive, but Alzheimer's disease has stolen him from us. He lives in a rest home about 30 miles from us. Brady's memories of him are few. Robbie has a multitude of wonderful memories of him, though.
This made me stop and think...the next time we video at a family event, I will be sure to capture the adults, too. You just never know when they'll be taken from you. I enjoyed hearing the voices of Papa John, as well as both of my grandmas. I just wish I'd have paused the camera on their faces more. Goodness knows we didn't need 30 minutes of just watching Robbie or Brady. I could have spared the extra tape in order to capture treasured memories.
I totally agree with you. Unfortunately most of the time we think about it when it's too late.
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