The day started off with excitement after I was notified that my mom’s 8mm movies (with unknown subjects) had shipped from FOREVER Digital Conversion. I had never seen these as I was in the Army in Vietnam and Germany during most of my brother and sister’s growing years.

But then I couldn’t wait. After all, FOREVER constantly told me I could access my converted memories online right away.

It was my own fault. I should have known better, but as I was downloading a few of the videos, I began to wonder what I might find. Was I doing the right thing?

As I watched through the videos, I was mesmerized by the memories of the people long gone from my life for varied reasons. I watched as my squad prepared to move off into the jungle in 1967. Many of them never came home. I watched as my little sister (now passed on) celebrated her 3rd birthday in the house I grew up in. I watched neighbors in my parents’ yard having barbecues. I watched my younger brother make faces to the camera. I watched my young mother ham it up with her bowling team.

But then the coup de gras….my grandmother (whom I dearly loved) at the farm I practically lived at while growing up. I saw her sister who lived with her and was my favorite aunt (she always hid candy for me in her dresser), and finally, Timmy the dog, who had been my best friend.

At this point, I lost it.

But you may be asking, what this has to do with digital conversion?

Well, prior to learning about FOREVER, I had a few videos converted at our local camera store. Oh, the videos came out alright; they were exact copies, flaws and all. But the impersonal feeling when they just handed me the thumb drive and the baggie with my original media, it just felt so cold of a transaction. These were my memories.

“Memories” is not just a buzz word. It is one of the most important words we use around FOREVER. I don’t question that anymore.

Now, when I viewed these videos from Digital Conversion, they removed the gunk from the front end of the video like most 8mm movies have from light on the film. Then, at the end of the video, it went to a soft fade to black, not just a tire squealing, rubber burning halt to the end of the movie.

These movies were sent to FOREVER in many of their original film boxes. Remember those Orange Film boxes? FOREVER had taken the time to use what was found on the boxes as the title to each of my videos. I couldn’t even read most of them myself. I am eternally thankful to FOREVER for this little courtesy.

I’ll be honest. I was very concerned about the amount of time it would take me to get my movies converted. But now that I have personally witnessed the care and quality of FOREVER’s work, I am their biggest fan.

I am so grateful to FOREVER.