Memories

Memories, I have learned, are the most powerful emotion of all. For, like sunlight through a prism producing all the colours of the rainbow out the other side, memories contain all the emotions we have.

Some memories are joyous and wonderful, some are very very painful - both make us cry. 

I have been helping people and families save and remember their memories for ten years, since 2002, and I have to say, it's been the most fascinating, and powerful experience I've ever had in my 61 years so far.

I'm not just a nameless guy behind a counter drop-off, come back in two weeks kind of service. Most of the people who come to me want more than that. Many want special things done, titles, personal music, even old girl friends or boyfriends, or ex-spouses removed. Sometimes, it's something they would never want anyone else to know about, which holds very special personal memories for them alone.

They want to know my name, ask questions and get answers, request specific wants, share some of their most special emotional memories, know they can trust me to do my best, that I will care about their memories almost as much as my own.

People are often compelled to tell me their life's stories, and, even though I can't charge for the time, I enjoy listening, and telling some of mine in return.

We all have similar stories that we all share in common. Some stories stick in my mind.

The war stories; the nazi death-camps survivors; refugees of many persecutions; people central to or associated with Canadian history; the celebrities; 

I've gotten to meet some celebrity-type people of interest to everybody. Like a descendant of Denton Massey of the famous farm machinery Massey family and films he shot as a young man. Jim Floyd, chief engineer of the AVRO Arrow. Paul Hoffert and his wife, of the famous Canadian rock band, Lighthouse. A daughter of George Weston of Weston Foods. I was on radio shows about my service quite a few times, first with Murray Segal of Sunday Showcase AM740, later with Marc Saltzman of Tech Talk on CFRB 1010, and got written about in the Toronto Star.

I hear about quite a lot of people missing out on sharing old memories with family members

before it's too late.

One that sticks in my mind was the University of Toronto Professor who was using old family films to help Alzheimer's victims, and reported some success. While watching the old films, the people were able to remember and recognize some of their family members and interact with them cognitively.  

The funniest encounter I remember was the tough-faced cop in uniform with his hand on his gun butt, with a few old family films in a small frilly-laced gift-bag with little loop handles, tied up with a pink ribbon and flower bow.  When he returned and saw his transfered memories, he got kinda weepy and I had to give him the kleenex box I keep handy for that reason, which happens a lot.

And the guy who complained that the DVDs I'd given him were not of his films. He came back, we put the DVDs in and began to watch, further than he had watched. Suddenly, he went silent for a second, then said, 'Oh.....that's my brother. Now I remember what's happened. I have his films and he has mine. We haven't spoken to each for almost 40 years because of something that happened - I can't even remember what anymore. I guess I'll have to finally call him and exchange our films.' Last I heard, they at least were finally talking again.

Many of my customers contact me afterwards to thank me profusely for helping them to save their family memories, which they got to share together with family and friends, usually at some special time. Some say estranged family and friends even re-connected, after many years of drifting apart, or estranged for reasons nobody even remembers exactly why anymore.

Being able to do this for my customers is a really big reaon I do this service.

Even those few men who come and claim that they are just having the transfers done for the family they rarely see anymore, with no interest to see the transfers themselves. When they come to pickup the transfers, and I put in 1 or 2 DVDs to show a few minutes to make sure they are satisfied, and, they stare, silently, not even blinking. I fear they are not happy with the results, so I ask if they are satisfied with my work, and, they suddenly begin to tell me who everybody is, their life's story, and, they get all weepy and choked up.

I always have a box of kleenex handy for those guys too.

I blubbered like a baby myself when I finally just a few years ago again saw myself at the age of 4 in 1954 on my little orange peddle-tractor. 

I grew up in Etobicoke on Islington Avenue north of Dundas St. Our next door neighbour Joyce Medforth had taken a bunch of 8mm films of our family in the 1950s and 1960s. We used to go next door Xmas day and watch those films. For 16 years from 1992, I hunted for any of those films I could track down. I was told they were gone, but I couldn't give up hope. Finally, in 2008 I found about 20 minutes in an almost forgotten shoe-box one of her relatives still had.

WOW !

That's the one word I can think of to describe the emotions I experienced, which are really indescribable.

Searching for our family films all those years is what eventually gave me the idea to help others save and share their memories with family and friends. And having finally found my own long ago memories on films, I finally very personally know what they experience from theirs, and that I am even more than before very glad to have chosen to help others save theirs. 

From taxi drivers to lawyers and doctors, from coffee slingers to fighter pilots, from little kids to 95'ers - we're all the same in that way.

Our memories - happy and sad - make us laugh and make us cry

I can tell you this

Save your memories, share them with family at least once, before it's too late, or even a stranger - or else , sooner or later, you will regret it.

Plus,

You can bet your last dollar that family descendants will love you for saving your old films, slides, videos, etc, for them to enjoy, and better understand where they came from, and, they will remember you.

I have not met a person yet, regardless of what they may say,

even if only in some small way

we all want to be remembered

steve@homemovies.ca 416-447-5728