Did interview 3 of the week with mom today. I changed up the lighting and some of the mic stuff. Overall I think these things have been a great learning experience. I got to test out all my gear both video and sound and got a chance to use it. I will get to play with editing this footage all my work week in Premiere. I also got to learn things about my family I did not know.
Some of the stories that stood out:
1) My grandma cutting wood at 4am on the farm in the winter time darkness. How a neighbor would hear that and know she was up working already. I guess this happened most mornings during the winter months.
2) My father crying after my mom said yes to his marriage proposal. He was worried that his marriage would end in pain and divorce like his parents (my grandparents) marriage had. My father suffered life long embarrassment and pain because of his parents bad marriage. It would be something he talked about in sadness till his dying day.
3) How dad was terrified of needles and made lots of noise and was very worried when he had his tonsils out at 25 years old. Later on when he was older he overcame his fear of needles.
4) How dad took moms highschool ring at the dance where they first met. How he dropped it on the floor then put it on his finger and left with it. Mom never saw again for quite a while, until they met again by accident o the streets of Edmonton. At that accidental meeting dad was still wearing the ring.
5) How my mom decorated her first Xmas tree. She was around 11 years old. She begged her dad to get her a tree as they had never had one before. So her dad (my granddad) went out in the bush and cut one down for her. They put the tree upstairs in her room but she had no ornaments to decorate it with. Mom cut shapes of bells and trees out of cardboard then glued silver paper (taken from cigarette packages) onto the cardboard so they looked more nice. She then hung everything on the tree. Here father came to her room to see the tree. He was heart broken to see how poor it looked and how much effort his daughter had made to make it look nice. So he made a special trip to town to buy 3 new large shiny blue glass ball Christmas tree decorations for her (they were not rich folks so store type buys like this were rather a big expense for the family). He brought them home gave them to her and then they placed the tree downstairs in the family living area with the brand new bright blue decorations on it.
All these years later (around 70 years later) my mom still smiled and teared up when she told me what her dad had done. From that Christmas year on mom became the families official tree decorator and every year the decorations grew and the tree became more beautiful. Mom says she still thinks she has one of those blue Xmas balls in the basement in storage. I will look for it the next time I search through those old basement boxes.
Sometimes the smallest things can have the longest positive impacts on our lives.
6) How mom almost lost her engagement ring after a fire in her apartment. And how dad thought the loss might have been a bad omen, that losing the ring was a sign that their marriage would not work (this got mom angry). Later on dad while crawling on the floor found the ring wedged under a piece of the linoleum floor in the kitchen. I guess him finding it was a positive omen because they stayed married for 57 1/2 years till dads passing.
Those are some of the simple, sweet, fun moments I did not know about before but I do now because of this weeks interviews. Glad I did these things, I wish I could still do interviews with dad, he would have so much to share. Dad had a great memory, even when he was sick at the end he would remember most everything, he could remember names, dates, places better than mom ever did.
Some of the stories that stood out:
1) My grandma cutting wood at 4am on the farm in the winter time darkness. How a neighbor would hear that and know she was up working already. I guess this happened most mornings during the winter months.
2) My father crying after my mom said yes to his marriage proposal. He was worried that his marriage would end in pain and divorce like his parents (my grandparents) marriage had. My father suffered life long embarrassment and pain because of his parents bad marriage. It would be something he talked about in sadness till his dying day.
3) How dad was terrified of needles and made lots of noise and was very worried when he had his tonsils out at 25 years old. Later on when he was older he overcame his fear of needles.
4) How dad took moms highschool ring at the dance where they first met. How he dropped it on the floor then put it on his finger and left with it. Mom never saw again for quite a while, until they met again by accident o the streets of Edmonton. At that accidental meeting dad was still wearing the ring.
5) How my mom decorated her first Xmas tree. She was around 11 years old. She begged her dad to get her a tree as they had never had one before. So her dad (my granddad) went out in the bush and cut one down for her. They put the tree upstairs in her room but she had no ornaments to decorate it with. Mom cut shapes of bells and trees out of cardboard then glued silver paper (taken from cigarette packages) onto the cardboard so they looked more nice. She then hung everything on the tree. Here father came to her room to see the tree. He was heart broken to see how poor it looked and how much effort his daughter had made to make it look nice. So he made a special trip to town to buy 3 new large shiny blue glass ball Christmas tree decorations for her (they were not rich folks so store type buys like this were rather a big expense for the family). He brought them home gave them to her and then they placed the tree downstairs in the family living area with the brand new bright blue decorations on it.
All these years later (around 70 years later) my mom still smiled and teared up when she told me what her dad had done. From that Christmas year on mom became the families official tree decorator and every year the decorations grew and the tree became more beautiful. Mom says she still thinks she has one of those blue Xmas balls in the basement in storage. I will look for it the next time I search through those old basement boxes.
Sometimes the smallest things can have the longest positive impacts on our lives.
6) How mom almost lost her engagement ring after a fire in her apartment. And how dad thought the loss might have been a bad omen, that losing the ring was a sign that their marriage would not work (this got mom angry). Later on dad while crawling on the floor found the ring wedged under a piece of the linoleum floor in the kitchen. I guess him finding it was a positive omen because they stayed married for 57 1/2 years till dads passing.
Those are some of the simple, sweet, fun moments I did not know about before but I do now because of this weeks interviews. Glad I did these things, I wish I could still do interviews with dad, he would have so much to share. Dad had a great memory, even when he was sick at the end he would remember most everything, he could remember names, dates, places better than mom ever did.
