To Record or Not

As you all know, Wednesday or Thursday is my normal posting day and I usually tell some silly story about my kids. I like the blog because it really helps me capture all those little moments that I might otherwise have forgotten. That I get to share them with the whole wide world and maybe make a person or two laugh is just a bonus. I stick to writing to capture my memories but many people make movies.

There are millions of parents with all sorts of technology they use to record their life. I know this because they send all of the home movies to America's Funniest Video's for us to laugh at. While this is great for television, I'm not so sure it's been good for parenting. I'm not sure the advent of video camera has been a great blessing to anyone. Now, I'm sure you're thinking, "How can you not like a video camera?"

Don't get me wrong I love my camera and I love watching the cheesy home movies I've made but I noticed something new the other night. I noticed the camera made me an outsider in my own life. When I make a recording, I'm not in the situation. It started when I was watching a movie from one of the kids birthdays. It was great fun but I noticed I wasn't in it anywhere. There was great video of my wife and kids but it was like I didn't exist. Then I thought, in 80 years, when my kids watch this they won't see me! So I asked myself, "was the movie worth it if I didn't get to enjoy the event?"

What really brought it all to a head occurred last night. After dinner, we went outside to fly kites before going to bed. This was quite an adventure because there was very little wind. The kites were dragged on the ground and wrapped around trees and occasionally with a fast sprint across the yard they even flew. It was so much fun that I decided to get the camera to record some of the action! When I came back, I was recording, and the kids were running, and the kids were having a grand old time. But they were having a grand old time without me. I realized I wasn't going to be part of their memory of the event because I was outside of it. I quickly put the camera down and went back to flying kites.

I'm not sure why I mention this. Maybe nothing happened this week or maybe I just noticed that I missed something that I shouldn't have. Maybe I just don't want you to miss something you shouldn't have either.