In my quest to organize ALL THE THINGS, I am going through old home videos and creating coherent, somewhat edited movies out of them. Most of them - and perhaps this is the nature of home videos - I have not sat down and watched since they were recorded all those years ago. Yesterday, I loaded up the batch of videos we took during the summer of 2010, specifically of our trip to Syria. It was like unearthing a time capsule. Those people! They're us. Those beautiful girls, age almost-2 and almost-5! They're ours. And of course, that country! Those castles! That town square! Those people! Currently embroiled in civil war.
Which makes watching these videos very bittersweet. I sat down with the girls last night and we watched all the videos of that trip. We talked about what was probably damaged and bombed and what was probably still OK. We talked about what they remembered about that trip, including things that weren't caught on tape.
We laughed and laughed at how in almost every scene, Magdalena is eating. The punchline of that particular joke was the reveal at 15.33, where you think maybe she is finally not shoving food in her mouth...and then she turns around.
I know that this video might not be of interest to anyone besides ourselves. I also know that our trip there does not have a place in the grand scheme of things. And yet I find myself entranced by this particular video time capsule. I wonder about every place in it, every person in the background. What has happened in that spot since? Where is that person now? Things started to go downhill in Syria about nine months after we were there. I know God has more to worry about than whether the Palmers got one last trip to Syria before such a thing became impossible, but I am grateful every day that we went. And for this video, to remind me of happier days there.
Which makes watching these videos very bittersweet. I sat down with the girls last night and we watched all the videos of that trip. We talked about what was probably damaged and bombed and what was probably still OK. We talked about what they remembered about that trip, including things that weren't caught on tape.
We laughed and laughed at how in almost every scene, Magdalena is eating. The punchline of that particular joke was the reveal at 15.33, where you think maybe she is finally not shoving food in her mouth...and then she turns around.
I know that this video might not be of interest to anyone besides ourselves. I also know that our trip there does not have a place in the grand scheme of things. And yet I find myself entranced by this particular video time capsule. I wonder about every place in it, every person in the background. What has happened in that spot since? Where is that person now? Things started to go downhill in Syria about nine months after we were there. I know God has more to worry about than whether the Palmers got one last trip to Syria before such a thing became impossible, but I am grateful every day that we went. And for this video, to remind me of happier days there.