A Trip Down Memory Lane - 1980

Back in August, my Dad brought over a handful of VHS tapes of old home videos because I told him I would get them converted to DVD since no one has a VCR anymore! (Also I had bought a Groupon for this service). I am not sure why the process takes so long, but 9 weeks later they were sitting in a box on my doorstep when I arrived home yesterday. We decided that we are going to have a family day and watch all of the videos together (with my Dad and brother and his family). I am not sure if my Dad will want to watch them in private first and then watch them with us as group. I know he really, really misses my mom and will probably get emotional watching the videos (which is definitely okay and expected, but I don’t know if he’d prefer to have “his” time with her). My Dad is anxious to see my mom again instead of just looking at her in photos.

When I opened the box yesterday, I couldn’t resist. I had to take a sneak peak at one of the DVD’s to get a preview of what was to come. Rob and I decided to watch the video that was labeled “1980 – 1981.” I am guessing that the original video was recorded on Betamax (if you know what that is) and then was transferred to VHS. I don’t think VHS was around in 1980. Once we started the DVD we were immediately sent back in time! My brother’s 3rd Birthday Party kicked off the memories. Jeff’s birthday is in June so we were all outside in the backyard. It was 1980 and I was only 6 months old and sat quietly in a stroller. At that time, all of the houses in my parents subdivision were new. Everything was wide open and the middle school had not yet been built. My parents backyard had a cement slab patio with wooden patio furniture. At this time, there was no pool in the backyard, just grass with a rigidy old swing set. It looked so bare!

Everyone’s clothing and haircuts cracked us up! My Dad was sporting a perm and all of the men had longer hair with mustaches. The kids were playing in the yard and all of the adults were sitting on the patio drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. It seems like everyone smoked. The video camera was shaky and constantly on the move. The technology at that time was top notch. Ha! We could see my Grandma Zettek asking, “Ron - How do we know if that thing is on?” as she is staring right into the lens. In another conversation we hear my Dad bragging that the video camera had a 3 hour battery life. My Dad also captured some of the kids playing on the swing set and commented on how close the zoom feature worked when he focused in on the kids. By today’s standards of zoom, it was a far cry from being “close.” I can’t imagine what this video camera actually looked like – I am sure it 20X’s bigger than they are today.

Later on, the events led us inside for presents and cake. It was funny to see the furniture and shag carpet in the house. The quality of the video got much darker and grainier. Everyone is squinting because they are being blinded by the bright light (which I am not sure if it was attached to the camera or someone was physically holding it as they walked around). When I say everyone smoked, EVERYONE smoked. All of the adults were sitting on the couch, puffing away – most of the time kids were sitting on their laps or right near them. I guess it was the thing to do! My Dad was sitting on the ground opening presents with my brother and had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. I am so glad things are not like that now. Hopefully we don’t end up with lung cancer with how much smoke we were exposed to as kids. On multiple occasions we heard “Watch out for the cord.” The battery must have died by that point. Ha! The video also contained my 1st birthday, Christmas and other random family gatherings. It was great to look back and go down memory lane. I got to see my Grandpa and Grandma Zettek, my Great Grandma, my Nana, aunts, uncles and cousins! And most importantly, we got to see my Mom!

I am looking forward to watching the rest of the DVD’s with my family. We have 5 more and they contain our trips to Disney World and our days out on the boat. It should be fun!

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