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Video Time Capsule From 2003

By Melissa Markham on September 14, 2007 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We are going through our house trying to get rid of things we have accrued over the years that we don't need anymore. We are trying to make a few extra bucks and declutter at the same time. We had a really nice video camera that we purchased in 1996. You know the huge ones that wear you out after you hold them on your shoulder for an hour taping the kids Christmas program?

Well we had stopped using it about 5 years ago. The batteries stopped taking a charge, there were smaller cameras on the market and the dinosaur of camcorders just got put away. It has been collecting dust ever since. So as we do our declutter, I pulled it out and worked on it to see if I could get it to work.

As I flipped it from side to side I realized there was a video tape still in it. I still couldn't get any of the batteries to charge, but by plugging the charger into the wall, the plugging the camera directly into the charger, the camera could run off of electricity. I put the camcorder in VCR mode, rewound the tape a bit and smiled as I watched my then 5 year old son playing on the piano with his daddy.

I took out the tape, the kids and I put in in the vcr, rewound it and were delighted to see video of a kitten that had disappeared without a trace when he was a year old. There was video of Katrina with her Shirley Temple hair at about 18 months of age, playing in the sandbox. She sang Happy Birthday for me and then stood up, looked down in the sand and proudly announced...'footprints'.

There was video of Daniel, Katrina and Jack 'playing' together on the piano. Video of Bruce, my oldest stepson, and I trying to avoid the camera. Video of Daniel's mom and stepfather. There was a video of where Jack and Katrina took turns standing on top of the closed toilet and sang to a captive audience. I am so glad we found that tape. What precious moments there are on it! I had forgotten how curly my daughter's hair was and I had forgotten that she had been singing and performing from early on in her life.

There is a video of Jack hugging Katrina, helping her get stuff, and hamming before the camera. He is still that way. We watched the tape twice. It made my heart sing.

Later Jack came up to me teary-eyed and said he didn't want to grow up, that he wished he was still little and we were having so much fun. My son....your growing up is a bitter sweet journey for me as well. I love watching you learn and grow into a man, but I miss the little boy who I held so often when he was young. In my heart, you will always be my little child.