Childhood Memories on Film
Posted by Lynn Wehner in Family on Monday, December 27, 2010 3:05 PM
We gave a special gift to my dad this Christmas.
After years of talking about it and trying to find a projector that could handle the project, we had all of our old 8mm movies transferred to DVD format.
Sitting with my own family, watching the voiceless images of my childhood — set to music of the time by my sister and her husband — it was impossible not to be nostalgic. As I narrated the “who’s who” of the films to my kids, I remembered so many of the scenes so vividly. Not just the sights of them, but the sounds and smells of the times, as well.
My kids observed the resemblance of themselves to me and my siblings. And remarked time and again about their young and dashingly handsome Grandpa.
But most significant was the constant smiling presence across the films of my mom. The image of her walking down my grandmother’s staircase in her wedding dress — complete with that 14-inch waistline! — will always stay with me, more than the photos of her on that day ever can.
Her role as loving wife and mother was so evident, as we watched her hold me and my siblings. As she asked us time and again to “wave to Daddy.”
The footage ended in 1973, just two years before she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Just five years before we lost her to the disease at age 43.
After watching, my husband and I reflected on how she was right there, smiling, holding her children and celebrating holidays — unaware of the future. Unaware that illness would soon take her from the very family she so loved.
So I begin this Christmas vacation week introspective about my childhood. Reflective about my ancestors and grateful for all that my parents have always been for me. I’m also introspective about my future, struck yet again by the call to live each and every day — a call that I so often lose track of in the hustle and bustle of life.
I pray today for all of you who have lost family members and especially miss their presence during the Christmas season. And I pray that the hope of the Incarnation inspires each one of us to treasure each moment we are given as a precious gift from God.
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