Perfect moments #2
My dad, always at the forefront of the latest technology, bought a video camera in the mid-80s. It was a mammoth of a machine which recorded directly to video cassettes and had to be carried over the shoulder, but if my dad ever felt inconvenienced by it, you'd never have known it. During that time our collection of home videos rapidly grew: us playing on the street, birthday parties, family holidays, dog fights on the street.
Then, my dad's passion for home videos something we took for granted. Today, as I watched footage of our family holiday in Disneyland 20 years ago, I was in awe of this man who had walked around Disneyland for 3 days with a massive video camera on his shoulder, dedicated to the cause of capturing memories on film.
There's a video from 1988 which holds a sequence of family gatherings: a family dinner, my 8th birthday and a visit from my uncle and aunt who had recently moved overseas. On this video, there's a scene with the family sitting around the lounge room, and my dad pans slowly so that he captures everyone. From left to right sit my dad's eldest brother, his other elder brother and his wife, my grandma, my dad's eldest sister and her daughter, my dad's other elder sister and her adoptive mother (my grandma's sister): all my dad's siblings are present, bar one sister. He is the youngest.
As he pans, my dad occasionally stops to linger on someone's profile for a few minutes longer as they share a joke or philosophical view. Watching it now, it's almost as though he knew.
But 20 years ago when he was filming that video, my dad would not have known that 20 years into the future, his second elder brother would have died of a heart attack. That his brother's wife, after suffering a series of strokes, would be unintelligible and confined to a hospital bed in her home. That his mother would have died a sudden and unexpected death. That his eldest sister would have died after post-heart surgery complications. That his other elder sister and his niece would have died of cancer.
And as we watch this poignant scene of ghosts, I see the perfect moment my dad captured 20 years ago, and I realize that life is full of unrecognized perfect moments.
Then, my dad's passion for home videos something we took for granted. Today, as I watched footage of our family holiday in Disneyland 20 years ago, I was in awe of this man who had walked around Disneyland for 3 days with a massive video camera on his shoulder, dedicated to the cause of capturing memories on film.
There's a video from 1988 which holds a sequence of family gatherings: a family dinner, my 8th birthday and a visit from my uncle and aunt who had recently moved overseas. On this video, there's a scene with the family sitting around the lounge room, and my dad pans slowly so that he captures everyone. From left to right sit my dad's eldest brother, his other elder brother and his wife, my grandma, my dad's eldest sister and her daughter, my dad's other elder sister and her adoptive mother (my grandma's sister): all my dad's siblings are present, bar one sister. He is the youngest.
As he pans, my dad occasionally stops to linger on someone's profile for a few minutes longer as they share a joke or philosophical view. Watching it now, it's almost as though he knew.
But 20 years ago when he was filming that video, my dad would not have known that 20 years into the future, his second elder brother would have died of a heart attack. That his brother's wife, after suffering a series of strokes, would be unintelligible and confined to a hospital bed in her home. That his mother would have died a sudden and unexpected death. That his eldest sister would have died after post-heart surgery complications. That his other elder sister and his niece would have died of cancer.
And as we watch this poignant scene of ghosts, I see the perfect moment my dad captured 20 years ago, and I realize that life is full of unrecognized perfect moments.