| Thursday, May 24, 2007 |
| Hidden Treasure |
The other day at Lowe's Cole pointed to an "X" that had been drawn on the floor and said with delight, "Mommy! I think there's hidden treasure under there!" No, we didn't dig up the floor right then and there, but his comment did get me thinking about our own "hidden treasure" that we unearthed a few months ago.
First, a little backstory: Back in 2002, mere hours after Cole entered our lives, my mom, dad, and Grandma arrived at the hospital to see their first grandchild/first great-grandchild (they left Minnesota when we called to tell them that I was in labor...a very long labor.) A few days after we arrived home from the hospital I asked everyone if they would like to record their voices on our computer while reading children's books to Cole (I figured this would be a great way for Cole to become familiar with their voices since we lived so far away from everyone.) To my delight they all agreed - even my siblings cooperated willingly! Unfortunately, after that initial idea on my part, the transfer of the audio files to CD fell on the backburner as we became consumed with being first-time parents. (So much does not get accomplished when exhaustion sets in.) Mark cleaned up the files and transferred them at one point, only for the set of CDs to be lost during our move to House 1 in 2004. We also lost Grandma to cancer in between that time, and so there was a lot of sorrow that was quite raw. ANYWAY, long story short...or long story long...Mark discovered the CDs again one day after we moved to this house. Back in February, while setting up his music collection downstairs, he put in a CD and there, crystal clear, was Grandma's voice, reading Make Way for Ducklings, and even quacking on occasion. It still made me cry, of course, but in a good way, because it was SO NICE to hear her voice again. So nice! It felt like she was in the room with us.
You know I'm all about capturing memories in photographs, but hearing her voice again was magical, too. I think it's especially precious to us because Grandma loved books. She was a kindergarten teacher, and after she retired she taught literacy to adults. I'm POSITIVE that every single one of her grandchildren remembers her reading to them, and I'm excited to think that each of her great-grandchildren (most of whom she didn't get to meet) can now hear her voice as well. So, dear friends & family of Grandma, to hear your own bedtime stories you just have to click on the links below and download the audio files (mp3s) to your computer:
Are you my mother?
Counting Book
Make Way for Ducklings
Up North at the Cabin |
posted by Joanna Bolick @ 8:31 AM  |
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| 20 Comments: |
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okay, i can't listen to them right now, b/c my heart is hurting thinking about my grandmother and how amazing it would be to hear her voice..
and i know i will ball my face off.
but how amazing for you..what a special treasure.
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Oh, I love this story so much!!!
I adore the idea, the sentiment, the memory, the emotion...I just adore it..
And I want to get my mom and my grandma and all those people we love to record messages for my 7 month old!!!
simply beautiful!
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What a beautiful idea, Joanna! Thank you for sharing it! Hugs!
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Hi I'm a lurker and I just have to say that is an awesome idea and how special it is indeed (the voice recording thing). I got tears thinking about hearing that voice that you can't hear anymore because that person is gone.
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This made me cry and I don't hav time to cry seeing as though I have LOTS of cutting to do....
What a great idea!
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what a sweet remembrance!
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by far the coolest thing ever. the sentimental value is so priceless.
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What a wonderful treasure, Joanna! This is such a wonderful idea!
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What an amazing story!
Thanks for sharing this... since my husband and I became parents much later than we anticipated, I'm often sad about the reality of not being around to meet my own grandchildren. What a great idea for us to record our own voices for them!
Happy long weekend!!! :)
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Oh Joanna, that is an amazing story. Makes me want to rush home right now to do the same thing.
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oh, i am SO going to do this with my mom & grandma!
thanks for sharing this fantastic idea!
I'm sure it means so much to you.
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Saving her voice like that is such a precious part of her to have saved! Thanks for sharing this - I'm going to do this for our granddaughters birthdays. You just never know how many times you'll have together in real life. ((( HUGS )))
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I'm with Steph, I can't listen either, but I'm tearing up just thinking of it. Its' funny...the same thing happened to me after my father died. I came across a tape of him, my mom and me when I was not even three - singing songs, being silly...just being a family. He still sounded just as I remembered and I sat and cried because it felt like I could touch him....
what a beautiful idea you had, joanna, and how incredible of you to share it with us...
You're a beautiful soul, my friend...
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What a great story. And what a blessing for you and your family.
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Oh Joanna, this is AWESOME! What a treasure - I totally want to do this too. DH has a digital voice recorder at work so I'll see if we can use it for the weekend and do this.
I'm so glad you found those CDs. It must have been so awesome to hear her voice again.
Hugs to you!
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That is so awesome and what a wonderful idea. That is something I am going to have to do for my daughter. And what a great gift for you to hear your Grandmother's voice.
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My parents just came to visit over Easter, and since they live 3000 miles from us we recorded them reading to our baby-to-be. My dad read "Over in the Meadow" and we both kept getting serious cases of the giggles in the middle. I refused to let him record it again. Those voices are priceless. Cole and Harper will treasure that CD!
~Julie
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I love this idea. So Sweet! I wish we'd thought to do this with my grandma before she passed this feb. I know all the great grandchildren would have loved to have a treasure like this.
Hope you don't mind, but I let my kids listen to "Make Way for Ducklings" tonight for their bedtime story. They loved it, and pretended it was THEIR mamaw.
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okay, i can't listen to them right now, b/c my heart is hurting thinking about my grandmother and how amazing it would be to hear her voice..
and i know i will ball my face off.
but how amazing for you..what a special treasure.