So I've been talking to Lori, and through the course of asking me what I was up to, I decided to blog about the very thing I began telling her about, because I realized how important it is to me...

Bubby used to do a little videography. He did a few weddings, primarily in the early and mid 90's, I think. In the midst of his camera-fun days, there was a Christmas or a family birthday or two that rolled around, resulting in him making two or three of these incredible gifts for the family to share. At whatever family gathering we were having at the time (Christmas day, or a birthday bash), we were presented with a video in which he had compiled an amazing array of family photos...photos that had gone unnoticed in the back corner storage area of our living room for years. Photographs that had long been forgotten - remained in their dust-covered solace of old peel-back albums. Pictures that were memories of "better days"...of smiling moments and cherished reminiscence. He had made the videos in such a way that the photos began with the oldest child, with their earliest picture and then older pictures of that person...then moving on to the next child (all my siblings)...Then came grandchildren, and then family pictures that included our parents and bunches of family grouped together.

Along with these photographs, he had added music to accompany the feel of what we were seeing. For most of these songs, I don't know that I had ever had any particular connection with them at all. But after time and time again of watching and rewatching these precious videos, these songs became ingraved in my memory and just as important and cherished as the stories being told by my family photos. So, from time to time, one of the songs from one of the videos will pop into my head. And I will miss it. And all of these memories come flooding back. Memories of me as a little girl, sitting on my living room floor, knees drawn up under my chin... parents, siblings, nephews, and nieces intently watching the screen...hearing the laughter of someone as their goofy grade-school picture popped up...hearing the 'awwwwws' from the cute moments presented on screen....feeling my cheeks hurt from grinning so big...glancing over to see my mother moved to tears by the black and white, raggedy baby pictures of her now grown children...All of these memories come rushing back. They are precious to me. That kind of just dawned on me tonight.

I'm not ususally a overly emotional person. But this is something that almost brings tears, just thinking about it. If you want, ask to see the video some time. I'll be glad to show it to you.

There are three songs in particular that I'm remembering tonight. I did a little research and they're all from Kenny Roger's 1991 "Back Home Again" Album. I never would have known. "Someone must feel like a fool tonight," "They just don't make 'em like you anymore," and "When you were loving me" are the three songs that ended up on the particular video I'm remembering right now. Like I said, had they have not been a part of this thing that brings forth such rich memories for me, I might never have thought twice about being interested in them. But now, they are a priceless part of me...

Vividly overtaking my thoughts when I hear these songs...

Children bundled up on Santas lap...taken so long ago, the patterns on the baby clothes are foreign to me...

...something shy and old fashioned in the smile that you wore...

A gap-toothed smile and nobody being able to tell which sister it was...akward pigtails on a young school girl...

...'cause everything is changing way too fast...

An awful tee shirt that was too-cool-for-school at the time, being shown off while standing next to the latest hot car...


...The fashion comes and the fashion goes...

A picture, void of color of an almost too-young mother holding her first child over his birthday cake - her protruding belly jutting out - a glipse of her second son taking on life...

...Something shine in the fashion...In the smile that you wore...

An envolope with my mother's scrolling handwriting: "David's first haircut." A date and a pan down of the camera to show soft brown baby locks...

...I wish that I could hold onto the past...

A nearly naked toddler brother, with the exception of diaper and Daddy's cowboy boots, "playing" his Father's guitar...

...they just don't make 'em like you anymore...

The little fifteen-years-later "surprise package" girl her parents never imagined they'd have, sprawled out on a blanket, pudgy legs in the air, showing off her diaper...

...I can`t help but long for how it used to be...When you were here and you were loving me...

A fervently praying grandmother, brow creased, hands clasped with the knucles shown white, looming over the incubator of her born-much-too-soon grandbaby...lights to keep the jaundace at bay, illuminating her nose and cheekbones...such a tiny, fragile human being laying with tubes and medical apparatus taking over his body...

...I finally got that near to go inside...I made it to our bedroom door to cry...

Husband and wife, rarely caught doing anything even remotely romantic, dancing at a cousin's wedding...Strong hands leading a woman...the woman's face captured with thrill as shes led out at armslength for the fast-paced song you know was playing...

...Now that you`re here in my loving arms...Forget all your yesterdays...

______________________________________________________________________________


So...today is Bubby's birthday. I won't tell you hold old. :) ;) I honestly wasn't thinking of that too much when I emailed him late last night (this morning, actually) with the link to that entry. I just thought he might be interested in reading it, since he made the video. So I sent him the link and this is the email I recieved in reply this morning:

Oh my gosh, Sis! I started crying 1/4 the way through your letter.
Gathered my composure and then cried more as you poetically listed some
of
the lines of the songs and the pictures that went with them. It was as
if I
was watching the video all over again. I never had any idea that it
would
move the family so much. I had a hard time making the video, as a
matter of
fact. Many times as I went through the pictures to organize them (and
that
in itself took several hours), I was moved to tears. Once I picked out
the
music, especially the Kenny Rogers songs, I knew it would be a hit, but
not
as big as it was. I'm so glad I had my priorities set high enough to
take
the time to do that video.
The whole thing took me either 24 or 40 hours to do. Hard to believe,
for
only a 15-20 minute video, isn't it? Thanks for taking the time to
reflect
in your blog on the days gone bye now. Life seems to get so busy,
priorities seem to get shifted, words seem to be spoken and yet it's as
if
we stick our heads in the sand like an ostrich, not admitting we are
letting
precious time go by. If I can say one thing that Mom and Dad both did
for
you and I, it was showing how important time with the family is.
Thanks for
doing this for me, especially on my birthday.

Love you lots and lots!
Bubby

Hehe. Wow. Not what I was expecting, but it works. Hehe.

Anyway, so after I blogged about it last night, I decided to actually watch the video. It had been at least several months since I had last seen it, and wanted to watch it again.

Its amazing how much I forgot from it. I love pictures. I love music. It was nice to have it all put back together in my mind, again. Besides the Kenny Rogers songs, theres also some other great music that he included. One artist of which I was prompted to grab two used copies on Amazon (one for me and one for Bub) many months ago for the same reason -- I kept finding myself with the two songs of hers he included on the video, in my head. And actually, when Bubby and I would sit down at the piano and jam out and sing together, we kept remembering this one song...trying to remember the lyrics and who it was even by...but we knew he had used it in one of the videos a decade ago. So I ended up buying copies of Suzy Bogguss' "Aces" for the two songs that ended up on the video - "Part of Me" and "Letting Go." (Thanks to Kate or I never would have found out who we were looking for. For some reason, she must be a better Google-er than myself. Lol)

(12:07 PM)