When I See Us Together in a Photograph
My morning started out when I accidentally sugared someone else's coffee. Two blue cups on the counter in front of me, and the partner who had come back to retrieve his didn't notice. If it was actually sugar, I might have told him (who knows who's a diabetic) but as it was the pink stuff, I didn't. Everybody's on edge today I don't want to add fuel to the fire by messing with the coffee.
I was thankful for the coffee because I was up late last night, almost by accident. I was going to pop in a DVD to play while I cleaned the house but I couldn't find the one I was looking for. So, for reasons I still don't know, I watched home movies that my daddy transferred to DVD awhile back instead. And of course, this has gotten me thinking about a few things:
1) Even if you think you look more like the milkman than anyone in your family, at some point you looked almost exactly like someone else. My oldest and youngest brothers could have been twins up until the age of four, except for the fact that they're spaced 20 years apart. My other brother looked just like his six year old son does now. My father is turning into his father, and my little brother is the exact age now as my dad was in those movies. Dad is a slightly different build, but they could pass for brothers.
2) The people you take pictures of at any given time are not necessarily the people you will want pictures of later. For example, everyone has a million pictures of their kids at all ages. That's fine, that's great, that's expected. What they do not have are pictures of everyone else at the same time. The people you've taken for granted, your parents, your siblings, your spouse, are likely the people that you will want to have pictures of in the future so you can laugh about how young they look, how much different you are now than then, and remember them when they are no longer here or are no longer the same person. Don't forget to take pictures of them too. You'll get enough pictures of your kids anyway.
3) I miss video cameras that ran on film. They have a great exuberant quality about them that just doesn't quite come through on digital camcorders, probably because the lens isn't always in focus, the lighting is sometimes hit or miss, there are streaks on the film - they just look more real to me. The other benefit is that the films don't have sound. You can edit narration on to the DVD version, but it's a lot easier to remember everyone as pleasant and happy when they aren't saying something to remind you otherwise.
4) There are many people that I would have liked to meet. My father when he was younger, my grandfather when he was older, and my brothers while they were growing up. It's a little odd sometimes to remember that all of these people had entire lives before you knew them and that they change just as much as everyone else. I know the "after" people, but I would really have liked to know the "before" as well.
5) My family is not only large, it is loud, noisy, chaotic, laid-back, occasionally disorganized, open, friendly, affectionate, exuberant, charismatic and diverse. I consider myself truly blessed.
None of this is particularly navel-pondering stuff, and I specifically only watched the bookend movies - the ones taken when my brothers were born in the 1960s and the ones taken at their children's various birthdays in the last few years. I'm not sure I'm up to seeing myself as a kid again just yet. As I remember, I was rather high-maintenance.
I was thankful for the coffee because I was up late last night, almost by accident. I was going to pop in a DVD to play while I cleaned the house but I couldn't find the one I was looking for. So, for reasons I still don't know, I watched home movies that my daddy transferred to DVD awhile back instead. And of course, this has gotten me thinking about a few things:
1) Even if you think you look more like the milkman than anyone in your family, at some point you looked almost exactly like someone else. My oldest and youngest brothers could have been twins up until the age of four, except for the fact that they're spaced 20 years apart. My other brother looked just like his six year old son does now. My father is turning into his father, and my little brother is the exact age now as my dad was in those movies. Dad is a slightly different build, but they could pass for brothers.
2) The people you take pictures of at any given time are not necessarily the people you will want pictures of later. For example, everyone has a million pictures of their kids at all ages. That's fine, that's great, that's expected. What they do not have are pictures of everyone else at the same time. The people you've taken for granted, your parents, your siblings, your spouse, are likely the people that you will want to have pictures of in the future so you can laugh about how young they look, how much different you are now than then, and remember them when they are no longer here or are no longer the same person. Don't forget to take pictures of them too. You'll get enough pictures of your kids anyway.
3) I miss video cameras that ran on film. They have a great exuberant quality about them that just doesn't quite come through on digital camcorders, probably because the lens isn't always in focus, the lighting is sometimes hit or miss, there are streaks on the film - they just look more real to me. The other benefit is that the films don't have sound. You can edit narration on to the DVD version, but it's a lot easier to remember everyone as pleasant and happy when they aren't saying something to remind you otherwise.
4) There are many people that I would have liked to meet. My father when he was younger, my grandfather when he was older, and my brothers while they were growing up. It's a little odd sometimes to remember that all of these people had entire lives before you knew them and that they change just as much as everyone else. I know the "after" people, but I would really have liked to know the "before" as well.
5) My family is not only large, it is loud, noisy, chaotic, laid-back, occasionally disorganized, open, friendly, affectionate, exuberant, charismatic and diverse. I consider myself truly blessed.
None of this is particularly navel-pondering stuff, and I specifically only watched the bookend movies - the ones taken when my brothers were born in the 1960s and the ones taken at their children's various birthdays in the last few years. I'm not sure I'm up to seeing myself as a kid again just yet. As I remember, I was rather high-maintenance.
posted by Lisa at 11:24 AM
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