SUDDEN SURPRISES

Every once in a while, I go digging around in my desk, sometimes looking for something specific, sometimes just looking.

This week, during one of those ‘just looking’ episodes, I found a surprise.  I remember, when I was a kid, less than 9 years old, that quite often Dad would be behind the lens of an 8mm camera, recording whatever was going on.  As an adult, I have a vague memory of Dad handing over those film reels.  And that I eventually had them converted in the VHS tapes and then, later down the road, converted in to CDs. I found one of those this week. 

Its label reads “Ted Hallsted, 8mm film, 1954-1977”.  Of course, I had to watch it.  What a wonderful surprise. 

However they were converted, they definitely were not organized in any way that makes sense.  The first footage to run is of Dad getting into a helicopter and then obviously flying over tundra.  I remember a few years before I moved to Fairbanks in 1973 Dad went to Fairbanks in January.  Seemed a little odd for a guy living in Florida.  He has footage of bank signs in Fairbanks reading -38 degrees.  That’s pretty cold!!  The helicopter footage shows a moose running around and someone dog sledding.

Then the footage skips to another plane ride that looks like it is flying down the Florida Keys, just over the bridges.  There are also images of a Northwest Airlines plane with shots from the window that could be somewhere in northern California, southern Oregon.

From there it goes to Mom’s youngest sister, Barbara’s wedding.  What is hard is that all the family members in the footage are now long gone.  Other footage shows a Hallsted gathering in our home in Lebanon, before we moved to Florida.  The house at 237 North Broadway has been a source of wonderful memories.  A few years ago, I was walking by that house while a party was going on.  Two ladies sitting on the front porch heard me say it was my childhood home and invited me in for a tour.  It was pretty much the same.  Just a new bedroom and bath on the second floor.  More recently the property has been sold and has been converted into a beauty parlor.  I really want to roam through it now, to see what they have done.

Anyway, I could go on and on regarding the footage.  I actually haven’t finished watching it, its just hard, seeing aunts, uncles, cousins who have been gone for many years.  When you grow up in a large extended family and slowly, on both sides, the groups get smaller and smaller, its hard not to miss them.

But I gotta tell you, I’m really glad I found this CD, puts a big smile on my face.