Striking Gold

Last Friday I spent the most I've ever spent at Costco.

And that's saying something.

We use Costco for everything.

Apples to EZ chairs.

And everything in the middle.

About a month ago I walked into the megastore to get a photo printed.

$3.20 later, I had that picture.

That’s only the beginning of this story.

While I was in the photo department I noticed a sign.

It had a picture of one of those old 8-mm tin cans.

And it said that they can transfer the films from those cans to DVD.

For $17.95.

Per can.

My eyes opened up.

Almost nine years ago I inherited a bunch of those cans.

I know it’s almost nine years because that’s when my dad died.

And shortly thereafter, his wife and I went over to his storage unit.

To make us cry even more.

Well crying wasn’t the plan, just the result.

But while we were there we went through a bunch of his “junk”.

Junk that I still treasure.

Pictures.

Books.

Magazines.

And some old family films.

42 of them.

Unedited.

Of course.

And for the next almost nine years they sat in my garage.

In a storage bin.

Waiting to be transfered over to a format that I could actually watch.

Enter Costco.

The store that has everything.

Well just last week I got a call from a lady there that the DVDs were ready to be picked up.

One credit card swipe later, those DVDs were mine.

I spent this past weekend watching those DVDs.

All of them.

And what I saw absolutely blew me away.

It all started with me.

Doesn’t it always.

Tons of footage of me as a baby.

At my first birthday party.

Running around in diapers.

Running around without diapers.

When I should have had diapers on.

My fourth birthday party.

A talent show in elementary school.

Family vacations.

To Mexico.

And Hawaii.

And Lion Country Safari.

My mom and my dad.

Smiling.

Together.

My brother.

As a teenager.

My cousin Lary.

Looking exactly like his son Ryan.

And that’s just the beginning.

In all there was more than eight hours of footage.

HOURS! of footage.

My seven-year old daughter and I spent several hours on Saturday night watching this footage.

And it was pretty amazing how much she looks just like me.

Poor kid.

There was no audio on any of the footage.

Which really cut down on the production value.

And really confused her.

So I opened up iTunes.

Clicked on The Beatles.

And hit play.

It was incredible how well EVERY Beatles song mixed together with grainy film footage from 40+ years ago.

“In My Life”.

“Revolution”.

“All My Loving”.

Even “Julia” sounded like it was meant to be there.

And I don’t even know anyone named Julia.

There’s probably not a whole lot of monetary value for all this footage.

(Until Sir Bacon hits it big of course.)

But to me it’s worth a buzillion bucks.

Which is far less than what I paid at Costco.

But the more I watched the video, the more I noticed some amazing things that didn’t include me.

(If you can believe that.)

How about home video of Mickey Mantle.

And Roberto Clemente.

When they were alive.

And playing.

The 1960 Kentucky Derby.

Nixon’s Inauguration.

Unfortunately that one was WAY out of focus.

Game footage from Super Bowl II.

And V.

And VII.

My parents taking a helicopter tour of New York City.

And seeing shots of the World Trade Center.

Being built.

That had to be in the early 70’s.

Every now and again I stumble across an old picture and I feel like I won the lottery.

This.

This is like winning the SuperMegaPowerUltra Lottery.

My dad left me nine years ago.

And he left me with more memories that I can count.

And I can count real high.

But to see this footage.

After all these years.

It made me cry.

Crying wasn’t the plan.

Just the result.