Memories To Last A Lifetime

Have you ever had one of those projects in the back of your mind for years and years that just never was completed? I am so thrilled and excited to say that after many years of contemplating this project, that it is FINALLY completed and the outcome is a treasure that all of us will enjoy throughout our lifetimes!

When Gale (the girls' dad) and I were married back in 1972, we had an 8 mm movie camera - it was one of those pretty large contraptions and it used 8 mm round tapes -of course I don't remember buying it or even using it much but at that point in time, not many people had them! But I do know that my sister Patty and husband Leonard had the same type of camera!

We did USE the camera - and I remember nights where Leonard and Gale would actually splice the little blue 8 mm tapes together and put them on a large reel, kind of like what an actual movie reel is! They had a splicer type thing that would connect the little reels together and I remember it taking a LONG time to do it!

Fast forward - For the next 30 years, everytime we moved, the box of 8 mm tapes and the old movie projector moved with us!! And I believe about 15 or 20 years ago, we actually dug out the old projector and watched a few movies - now mind you, these old, old tapes were extremely brittle and while trying to watch them, part of the reel would actually burn as it went through the projector. So we decided NOT to watch them anymore for fear of losing the content!

I had decided years ago that I really wanted to get these old movies put on DVD - but the price was WAY beyond what I was willing and able to spend at that time! But with all the new technology out now and with a bonus from my boss that didn't need to be used for anything special, I decided to once more check into getting these old tapes put on DVD!

After calling a couple of places, Jill told me that a friend of hers said that Walmart actually did it!! I was so excited that I went there on lunch hour to talk to someone in the camera department about it, and YES, they did do it! At the time, we thought the price would be per reel, but come to find out, it is charged by the foot!

I had 13 small 8 mm tapes and 3 large reels to do - I knew the tapes only went up through probably 1982 when Jessi turned 1 - (who knows why nothing was recorded after that time - I have a feeling the camera must have broke) but I was still very excited to get them done! It was funny because when I took the first set of little tapes in, the guy asked me how much footage was on each one and I said I believed it was 30 minutes per tape - duh - how fast we forget - the little tapes only had 4 MINUTES! Of course with no sound, just action, the 4 minutes is actually a long time!

The last of the DVD's were done when we returned from Mexico and I picked them up - was it expensive??? In a way yes, but knowing that these memories are now preserved FOREVER made it all worthwhile as I'm not sure we could ever watch the actual tapes again!

Minute wise, there is not that much - 2 DVD's of about 30 minutes each and 1 DVD of an hour and 38 minutes! The 2 30 minutes DVD's are of Jill's birth and Jessi's birth - and we watched them up at Jaime's house the day we got back from Mexico - how fun was that???

Last night was the first chance I had to watch the long DVD - you could tell that Jaime was certainly the FIRST child as 3/4 of the DVD was of her! It was SO NEAT to see not only Jaime being born and a toddler, but of my family - my mom and dad, grandma and grandpa's, aunts and uncles, siblings, and old friends!! Most were just a glimpse but it was enough to make me smile and cry and reflect on all of those wonderful memories!

Tonight, Jaime and her 2 kids and Jill and Aleah are heading down for the weekend! And the first thing on the agenda is to watch the DVD's - Jaime has seen 2 of them but not the one of her birth and Jill hasn't seen any of them - I can't WAIT to see the expression on their faces when they watch them!

My memories of my little girls are now available to watch any time I want to - and if you need a good laugh, just come on over and check out the hairstyles and clothes of the late 70's and early 80's! Now THAT'S a trip down Memory Lane.............