Thanksgiving 1984, thirty-nine years ago, was special for me. And, it’s all on tape. However, at the time, how remarkable it was was lost on me. We all were just having a good time. My then wife was what is now known as an “early adapter”. Because she was always buying and trying the latest technology. Maybe as a counter-balance to the fact that for the first three years she lived with me (1977-80), we lived without electricity.
One of the new tech gadgets she bought was a VHS camcorder, along with a machine to play the movies on. Because, we had had a baby boy who had just turned one year old. Wifey wanted to record his growing up and that’s what made Thanksgiving 1984– we have it all on tape!
The movie is two hours of the two days we spent together – cooking, eating, singing and dancing, and talking. Moreover, actual interviews of all of the family gathered at my newly modernized home in Conifer, Colorado. Let’s get into it.
There were eleven of us. My mother (69 yrs. old), father (64), wife (37), brother (37), myself (35), sister-in-law (33), step-daughter (17), step-daughter (15), niece (9), niece (7), and baby (1) makes it the magnificent eleven.
The Movie
is fantastic! (I watched it Friday night after happy hour.) We ate in the living room with a large banquet table, twelve feet long that my friend had made some years ago. Before dinner we were singing and dancing in the cleared out dinning room.
We sang old songs, some of Dad’s favorites, like You Always Hurt The One You Love. And danced to Neil Young’s Union Man, among others. My nieces and the baby joined in. Of course, my step-daughters thought it all cringe. Nevertheless, they were good sports and participated in other ways.
On Friday, we taped interviews outside which are now priceless. Additionally, there were dogs, cats, and chickens running free. Also, a fair amount of snow.
There’s no making any of this up – it’s on all on tape. Moreover, none of us had any idea what the future would bring. However, we all had some notion and expectation that we’d all be alright. Maybe live forever.
Thanksgiving 2023
was wonderful, in its own way. Because, despite all the entropy, disruptions, and distractions, four of us managed to get together, joined by two others. And the love at the table was palatable. Just as much as it was thirty-nine years ago.
Indeed, the world has changed so much, especially the technology. But some things don’t– like love and affection. If you give it space.
Conclusion.
Needless to say, all the dogs, cats, and chickens are dead. I sold Conifer Castle in 1989 for $67,000. Last year, having been further renovated, it sold for $814,000. The barn is still there. I remodeled it into a wood shop in 1986.
Mother died in 1996, and Father in 2016. Wifey and I divorced in 1992. She lives in Denver, Colorado. Brother caught the long COVID in December of 2020. He survived, and is living in Kansas with Sister-in-law and Niece (7) and Grandniece. Niece (9) lives in Wyoming with her husband. Step-daughter (17) lives in NoCal with her partner. Step-daughter (15) lives in Denver. Baby (1) lives in SoCal and has a successful Improv school he started.
Yours truly is reading, writing, thinking and drinking in Westminster, Colorado. I quit smoking in 1986.
Happy holidays.
