The Power Of The Voice

I was recently in LA to visit my mom and help Tracy and David with some wedding stuff. After a delicious lunch at Le Pain Quotidian in Brentwood (I had the Mediterranean plate and Mom had quiche) we came back to Mom's house. She had just received a short CD of Les Miserables, as an ad for the upcoming movie. We put it in an old boom box to play it, only to discover that the tape was blank. However, we discovered a tape in the boom box that is priceless. My parents spent quite a lot of time with my kids when they were young. Before they were in school, the kids went to Grandma and Grandpa's on Mondays. This often involved a Sunday night overnight, so they spent some great quality time with their grandparents. One of the favorite things my parents would do with the kids (usually one at a time), would be tape record their voice. The tape we found is a treasure trove of memories. The tape begins when David is around 2 years old, and has bits and pieces of activities, recitals, conversations, and graduations, all the way up to age 14. What a find. We sat there for over an hour listening to the tape, smiling and sometimes crying, with the memories created by this little bit of celluloid. The most memorable part of the tape was a 10 minute segment when David, age 8, is describing a day at Olympic Boys and Girls Club, a summer camp he attended for several years. Off the top of his head he tells about everything he did at camp from the moment he was dropped off, until pick up time. He describes each activity in detail, with no stammering for a word or idea, just like he'd written out the script. Also on the tape was David, pretending he was performing at the Music Center, playing the piano. He would introduce himself, then play the piano. As a wonderful pianist, he also played the piano at all school events, from the time he was about 8 years old, so we have a lot of school programs on tape. Finally, he would practice reports for school in front of his grandparents, and it reminds me of how very accomplished he was at a young age. The other wonderful piece on the tape was my mom, dad, and David reading books together and just talking. David was about 4 at the time, and my father was reading to him. It was wonderful to hear his voice, so loud and strong. It was almost like he was in the room. But it was also sad, as it was almost 4 years to the day that we attended his funeral. The voice is the most powerful reminder of people, I think. Much more than a photograph. Photos are great, and everyone today has thousands of pictures of their children and grandchildren, but don't forget to record their voices. You forget things, precious moments, and the audio tape brings them back. I am calling my kids today to remind them to tape some moments like the ones I described above. Years later everyone will look back with great fondness at these memories.