Time in a bottle

My mother-in-law just had hip replacement surgery, and she's going to be laid up for several weeks, so I'm making her some videotapes, mostly of cable shows she doesn't get, but also of every camcorder tape we've recorded over the past four years. I'm watching/taping the first one now, and it is of Eldest's first summer, three years ago.

Aside from how little Eldest is, and how much back then he looks like the present-day Littlest, I'm amazed this is already three years ago. Part of that is how Eldest's personality traits today were already showing up then, and the other part is that this doesn't seem that long ago. Yet it has been three years, and in three years, when Eldest is closing in on 7, it will be six years ago, and so on and so on.

I've always explored, and written about, how to slow down time, or more accurately, the perception of time. There's always the lurking feeling that there is no way to slow down time, that the boys will grow up quickly like it or not. And if it can't be slowed down, then the best I can do is preserve the memories as best as I can, not just in my mind, but via videos, pictures, writing, etc.

I have seven tapes I'm transferring to video for my mother-in-law. My goal for the next year is to double that collection. Let the amount of memories dictate time rather than the amount of years.

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