Rewind

In the process of cleaning out closets this weekend we came upon boxes of home videos. We watched a few of them last night.

Awesome. Magical. Hilarious. Sweet.

The things we’ve done as a family! The trips to the log cabin with heavy snow falling outside and a warm fire inside. Skiing. Snow-shoeing. Snowball fights. And the trips to the seashore feeding seagulls, running in the sand, visiting lighthouses and aquariums. Holidays, everydays.

My teenagers as toddlers gently fingering sea cucumbers and other mysterious pettable ocean creatures. Ice skating at the local rink with my now mid-twenties eldest gently escorting his baby sister around the rink, scooping her up tenderly when she staggers, holding her on his lap to tighten her skates. I melt into gooey sentamentality at the sight.

There’s my second son laughing and cheering as he beats a quick-drawing Johnny Rio at Enchanted Forest, his teenage mannerisms identical to those he exhibits today: the yanking on his shirt to free up his shoulder, the way he runs his hand over his head when he’s problem solving.

I smile stupidly at the joy of it all.

And there’s Tom who doesn’t look a day older than he did then even though his many choices of eyeglasses tell the tale. Holding the babies, playing with the tweeners, working with the growing boys, and still reading the newspaper or reclining on the couch while I record our family's history via video recordings.

My parents. Tom’s parents, including his now deceased father. Brothers and sisters. Cousins. Friends. Lots of friends!

When we turned off the VCR and TV after we’d watched enough for one night I was pleased to feel not an empty ‘where did the time go’ feeling, but contentment. Because the videos did not record an experience ended, but an experience on-going. The journey continues.

During this month of thankful ponderings I find immense gratitude for the experiences I’ve encountered in marrying Tom and together raising four children. While videos don’t record the yelling and screaming, the depression and dissatisfaction, the mistakes and unkindnesses, they do show that the foundation is healthy, that it always has been.

Good to know.