You know that feeling when you find a PERFECT gift for someone?
It's officially my in-laws 50th anniversary on the 9th of this month - and while we did all celebrate it on the cruise this summer, we wanted to recognize it with a special gift. I remembered that we have all their old 8mm films - films from BEFORE they got married - sitting in our closet with an old 8mm projector. Thought we could just play the movies and tape them somehow, and make DVDs. Except the bulb burned out and they don't MAKE these anymore, so you're talking over $100 for a damn lightbulb. And we're looking at FORTY-THREE rolls.
So we took them to a local business who transfers movies to DVDs - and we got them back yesterday. Three DVDs full - and we had copies made for each brother, and a master set to put in a safe to keep them safe. Almost $500, which was shocking at first, but last night we watched about 45 mins of the first one, and I'm so incredibly happy we could do this. To see them so young - to see people I only knew for a little bit before they passed away - to see my kids and their cousins mirrored in these folks, the same smile, the same eyes, the same mannerisms - it's so amazing. And this gift actually reaches out so far beyond just them, and us - so much of these videos had cousins and aunts and uncles who I hope will also love to see this. =)
And I am just really sad I won't be there to see their reaction when they put in the first DVD and hit play. And at the same time, I think it may just be a very personal moment that they don't want people to share, seeing their parents, aunts and uncles and old friends who aren't here - I can imagine that might be hard too.
I got a "Klout perk" the other day that was related to this - a site called YesVideo.com gave me a coupon to transfer 2 VHS movies to DVD - so I had to pick which two to try this service out on. I was going to do my wedding - the "official" video and then the one done by my half brother - because both have so much of my dad in them.
Then I decided to do the first two years that the kids were alive instead. Something about seeing and hearing my dad again made my heart hurt.
So we took them to a local business who transfers movies to DVDs - and we got them back yesterday. Three DVDs full - and we had copies made for each brother, and a master set to put in a safe to keep them safe. Almost $500, which was shocking at first, but last night we watched about 45 mins of the first one, and I'm so incredibly happy we could do this. To see them so young - to see people I only knew for a little bit before they passed away - to see my kids and their cousins mirrored in these folks, the same smile, the same eyes, the same mannerisms - it's so amazing. And this gift actually reaches out so far beyond just them, and us - so much of these videos had cousins and aunts and uncles who I hope will also love to see this. =)
And I am just really sad I won't be there to see their reaction when they put in the first DVD and hit play. And at the same time, I think it may just be a very personal moment that they don't want people to share, seeing their parents, aunts and uncles and old friends who aren't here - I can imagine that might be hard too.
I got a "Klout perk" the other day that was related to this - a site called YesVideo.com gave me a coupon to transfer 2 VHS movies to DVD - so I had to pick which two to try this service out on. I was going to do my wedding - the "official" video and then the one done by my half brother - because both have so much of my dad in them.
Then I decided to do the first two years that the kids were alive instead. Something about seeing and hearing my dad again made my heart hurt.