Bug,  Family Matters,  movies

The Greats

March 14, 2006 /

Since Toby has put me and the baby on house arrest (a whole other blog post I’ll save for another day) until Baby Bug is three months old, my family has been coming to see me. Actually they are coming to see the baby, not me. But you know what I mean. They are making the trek through three hours of mind numbing traffic to visit me and the baby. My family mostly lives out in the sticks, far far away from me and the ocean.

Yesterday, my great Aunt (who is ninety-seven or some ripe old age like that) and my Grandpa (who is five years younger) came to visit. Now that I’m getting older, I realize how special it is to spend time with them. They really are the “Greats”.

My Grandpa is the best. You know what he brought with him to come visit me? His box of tools. He’s an inventor and he’s always fiddling with something. Before his visit, he called and insisted I give him a list of things that needed to be fixed around my house. I had to really think of things because I know he’s getting older and if I gave him my real list, he’d spend all day long doing back-breaking labor. Our place is falling to pieces. But that’s my landlord’s business, not my Grandpa’s.

Just the same, I had to think of something because it really makes him happy to be fixing things. So he fixed the pull wand on my vertical blinds that don’t work and my little portable heater that won’t turn off at the switch. You have to unplug it at the wall and sometimes I’m too lazy to do that so I find it running away in the middle of the night, heating up a room that nobody is in. Cha-ching goes the electric bill.

While my Grandpa fiddled and fixed things, I got to spend several hours chatting with my great Aunt. It is amazing that she is in such great health. She’s a funny character. She kind of reminds me of Katherine Hepburn in her sassy forwardness. She’s very proud of her life of playing golf and wearing slacks and showing off her great legs. She’s constantly on my mom’s case to lose weight. She has no concept that sometimes being overweight is a genetic thing and can’t be fixed by just eating less… but that’s a tangent. What’s funny about my great Aunt is her stories. She always tells the same ones, even though she is quite clear headed and coherent.

The first story she always tells is about me when I was in second grade. I was at a new school and I was having trouble because all the boys would chase me at recess. I was telling my great Aunt this and she got a kick out of it because she then told me that the reason all the boys chased me was because I was “pretty”. Apparently I didn’t belive her, and that was hilarious to her. It’s not that funny of a story really, but it is to me now because she tells me this EVERY SINGLE time I see her.

But I actually remember being seven and I remember that the boys didn’t chase me that much. I was really really shy and would mostly hang around in the fields looking for four leaf clovers. But on that day that I was talking to my Aunt, a boy had chased me (like they do when you are seven) and now it has gone down in history never to be forgotten.

The other story she always tells is about her father. It really is a tragedy. Her dad died when she was seven. He was in his twenties. He was a great artist and he designed jewelry, as well as fixed watches and made lenses for corrective eye wear etc… Apparently he cut himself on something while he was working and got blood poisoning. He died in three days. Can you imagine that?

Can you imagine your healthy father getting sick and dying in THREE days when you are seven years old? It was horrible for my great Aunt. She was very very fond of her father. He was a great man and used to tell her stories and illustrate them for her. I like to think maybe I inherited some of his drawing skills. I really wish we had more record of him.

My Grandpa doesn’t even remember him because he was only two years old when his father died. And on top of that? It was during the depression. Their mother had to clean houses to feed them. She used to get hit on by the men she cleaned for and she would constantly have to find other work because she was getting sexually harassed. They used to eat dandelion greens and whatever potatoes they could find on the train tracks. There is so much history here. I did a report on my Grandpa and the depression when I was in sixth grade. I really need to find that. Anyway… I’m trying to sum it up without rambling too much. My point is, those were tough times. Times that shouldn’t be forgotten.

Maybe this is why I feel so compelled to constantly record history. I can’t just live in the now and appreciate the moment. I do that. But I feel the need to write it down and remember it too. History is so precious. There are so many relatives with stories that have been forgotten.

Just like Baby Bug is being held now by relatives that love her so much, I was held when I was little by relatives that are now long dead. I never knew my Great Grandmother but I know she held me when I was a baby. I know she loved me and she gave me her rocking chair that I still have today. Baby Bug has that rocking chair now. I just want her to remember my Grandpa and my great Aunt. So that is why I am taking these pictures and this movie (696KB quicktime) and putting it on this blog so that someday these memories won’t be lost. Hopefully this blog won’t be lost in the information age… It’s sad how that happens. There are so many leaps in technology that we can’t keep up and so much gets left behind.

My dad took movies of me when I was little, learning how to walk etc. But those movies are lost because they are on super eight film and we can’t find the projector that plays them. We did find it one year and when we used it, it burned a hole in the film. There is even a movie of me when I was two, playing with that rocking chair that my Great Grandmother gave me… One of these days I need to find that old footage and preserve it.

27 Comments

  • Krista

    March 14, 2006 at 9:12 am

    Hooray for Great Grandparents and Grandparents too! The movie is so sweet and touching thank you for sharing, you’re all so lucky to have that to cherish.

  • sarah

    March 14, 2006 at 9:14 am

    hi brenda!

    what a lovely post, and those pictures are beautiful. it reminds me how lucky i am to have my grandfather, who is 84 years old. he loves to tinker around with things, and while he no longer builds things or does woodworking like he used to, he is still so curious about life and each day he finds things that are interesting to him. i love it when he says stuff like, “well, you don’t say!” when he finds out something he didn’t know. isn’t it cool that you can be that old and there are still new things to learn?

  • Amanda Brown

    March 14, 2006 at 9:24 am

    What a special memory, for you to see Baby Bug get so much lovin’ from those who love her so dearly. I feel the same way about trying to write everything down and capture each moment, because they seem to slip away so quickly.

  • Boogie's Mom

    March 14, 2006 at 9:30 am

    What a great visit you had with them. And the pictures are priceless. You’re so lucky to have such “great” relatives still in your life.

    By the way, while I haven’t commented on all of your baby adventures, I just wanted to tell you that you have obviously become a wonderful mother, and I’m so glad that you get to treasure your little one so much. She’s beautiful.

  • Becky Z

    March 14, 2006 at 10:26 am

    Those are great pictures of Great Aunt Velma and Grandpa. I feel bad for not being able to see them very often. I hope that when this sickness thing goes away, that I can go out and visit them. They are both very loving people. :) I’m glad that they got to visit you and baby bug. That’s really neat. :)

  • Anna

    March 14, 2006 at 11:37 am

    How awesome that you have the “Great’s” still around to visit with Baby Bug. There is nothing more special than capturing such great love for you and your baby. Enjoy, record and don’t forget. One day it will be your turn to tell Baby Bug how much they enjoyed visiting her.

  • Lisa

    March 14, 2006 at 11:45 am

    Your pictures were so beautiful that they made me tear up ~ the joy on the “Greats” faces was so touching! And you have a beautiful daughter!

  • Kristina

    March 14, 2006 at 12:27 pm

    You are right on: recording present-day is important because tomorrow it will be history! I’m so glad for things I’ve kept track of – things I actually took the time to document – because of course we’re going to forget things, and it’s nice to have those reminders (even more so when you have a child, I’d imagine!). I often opt for being silly on my blog, which is fine I guess, but there are so many lovely things I should be writing about, too. You’ve inspired me.
    A beautiful post with lovely pictures and video – thank you again for sharing.

  • otter

    March 14, 2006 at 12:55 pm

    Well, I got REALLY behind and lost touch and now I’ve been lurking for a while, admiring the beautiful, beautiful bug and I just had to tell you how much I am enjoying your stories about the bug-tabulous baby. She is Gor.Geous. (You know that, of course!) Thank you so much for sharing with us. This story made me cry a little.

  • ginger incognito

    March 14, 2006 at 2:11 pm

    Have you tried finding one of those companies that’ll take Super-8 movies and transfer them to DVD? I believe there are quite a few out there, as memory-keeping has become more popular. My mom found a company near her that would take all the slides she has of her parents and transfer them to a CD. The projector broke long ago, so it’s sweet to be able to see my grandfather on R&R in India and share that with my baby girl.

    And congrats to you for recording all those special moments! And to your great-aunt for repeating her stories so no one will forget them.

  • jo's mom

    March 14, 2006 at 3:20 pm

    bren, i know exactly were those movies are and we do need to do something with them so you and shawn can see them again. someday…
    mom

  • Liane

    March 14, 2006 at 4:20 pm

    Hi,
    I’ve been visiting your blog for a couple months now…I just had to tell you how much I love it and look forward to your posts! I love the photos, the illustrations and your daily reports. I have an-almost-3-month old little boy baby myself so I especially enjoy all the baby details…

  • Amy

    March 14, 2006 at 9:31 pm

    Those photos are completely priceless. You are so lucky to be able to introduce BabyBug to such special people. Obviously they feel the same.

  • Lola

    March 15, 2006 at 5:54 am

    I’m with Ginger. I know that you can get Super 8 transferred to DVD. Keep your memories for Baby Bug!

  • Donna B.

    March 16, 2006 at 9:36 am

    I’ve been using http://www.homemoviedepot.com to transfer old family movies (from the 50’s) from 8mm to DVD. I also order everything on miniDV tape as an archive, and so that I have the raw footage to edit in iMovie if I want. They’ve done a great job with everything I’ve sent them so far and they’ve salvaged movies we didn’t think could be saved. You place your order online, print out the barcodes for each reel, send them in, and then you can pick menu backgrounds, music, and name your DVD and DVD menus online. Their website details how they clean and prep your movies for transfer.

    I scored major brownie points with all my relatives for transferring our movies; like I did it all by myself by hand or something! hee hee (Oh, here’s another tip, just order one DVD from them and then burn your own copies of it. You’ll save a ton of money that way. Plus, you’ll get to do your own labels and packaging!)

  • mar

    March 17, 2006 at 10:06 am

    I also think that no one appreciates little babies like “the greats” – I guess they know all that we have to look forward to, all the love and special times still ahead, and maybe that’s why they appreciate our wee ones so much – they know, in their own way, what the future holds!

    Lovely memories!