My uncle Flip put together a DVD of some old home movies as Christmas gifts to my entire family. It includes footage from my grandparents' wedding and footage of each of my grandmothers kids' first birthdays. It's so wonderful to see my family differently then I see them now, during different times in their lives. Seeing things like this make me realize just how special life is. People in those videos had no idea that someone over 60 year into the future would be looking in on their lives in awe. To them it was just an ordinary day, wearing ordinary clothes, in an ordinary life. And I use the word ordinary in the utmost positive way.
My grandma, Sarah Lefere, serving cake at a party.
What we have to remember is when we look back on our lives, or in this case on others' lives, we realize that the best moments are lived in the ordinary circumstances of the everyday. One of my favorite music groups, Above and Beyond, used the phrase "life is made of small moments like these" for one of their tours. They are right. Life is our gift, we only get one of them, and it's a whole line of small moments in which we live.
One of Sarah's bridesmaids twirls her dress for the camera
This home movie didn't teach me to look back to the past, it was an always needed reminder to live in the present. To be where you are, to enjoy it, to love it. I'm sure in those videos all those people realized how great their lives were. Many of them are no longer with us. I don't mourn their loss but celebrate their chance to have lived their moments.