It was sometime around the early 1980's, I believe, when one of my best friends at the time worked as a radio DJ and he had just started working at relatively new outlet store selling a machine called a Sony Betamax Video Cassette Recorder. Mike must have been a good salesman because even though VHS had just come out, he insisted the Betamax was the perfect fit for our recording television show needs (up until they invented something that could record a television show, I didn't even know I had that need).
So, I bought one. A brand-new Sony SL-20 Betamax. Over the years it has served its purpose - recording shows, movies, sports events - playing camera recorded events and the like. But the VHS was a cheaper model which really took hold of the market and Beta taped movies became harder to find. We eventually bought a VHS video recorder, and the Betamax was rendered idle, sitting unused for years. Because we had recorded some family memories on Beta tapes, we couldn't get rid of the Betamax. Plus, there wasn't a really good market for it. So, it kept moving when we moved.
Advanced technology eventually caught up with the VHS companies... Compact Disks or CDs entered the market and before you knew it, VHS tapes were in danger of becoming obsolete as well. CDs flooded the stores and homes became inundated with this new way of watching entertainment. But it didn't take too long before the CDs were on the outs - the digital age had arrived and live streaming became the order of the day. No more trips to Blockbuster or mailing the movies back to Netflix.
But what of the lonely Betamax? My machine was still in pretty good condition - or so I thought. I recall there were some precious memories on some of the Beta tapes and I wanted to convert them to digital files so that the kids and grandkids could enjoy watching them. But there was a problem. Who knew that moving eight times in 34 years would cause a machine to have some issues? So, I found a guy who fixes these kinds of things (for a pretty high cost, I will say). But I couldn't put a price on a memory now, could i?
The pictures you see below are just some of those precious memories. taken over one Labor Day weekend in northern Minnesota. Yeah, they are a bit on the discolored side, but that is due to the age of the tape. Goodness, those Beta tapes are over forty years old! I took a few still shots of some of the kids' moments that are etched in my own memory. The thing that is really cool is I see their movements, I hear their voices, I marvel at how small and precious they were at the time. I would almost pay any price to preserve those memories.
I am just grateful I have a reminder that tells me where part of the time was spent... good family time. Spent together. No devices in the way of conversation. No worries but each day in and of itself. It was a simpler time. It was a joyous time. Don't get me wrong, we had our problems of the day, like any other family. But we had so many good days. We watched our children learn, grow and become young people. I am reminded of part of it because my friend Mike sold me a Betamax.
Turned out to be a timely investment. Thanks, Mike!
