Voices from Another Era

Mama brings her cassette player into the living room where I'm working on my laptop. She turns it on and I hear my children's voices; Jaime at age four and James at age two. They sound so Southern! And it's hysterical to listen as Mama leads the very young Jaime and James in singing Jingle Bells. Jaime describes the nightgown she is wearing, identical to the miniature nightgown her baby doll is wearing. She is preoccupied with holding the microphone and James keeps wandering away and yelling out in the background, but Mama manages to interview them about their friends, what they received for Christmas and how much they love their Mama and Daddy. Mama recorded their voices 18 years ago, when home movies were virtually non-existent, and hearing them is like being in the room once again with those sweet babies. Jaime is now 22 and James is 20-years-old. To hear their young thoughts and their baby voices is a time warp and a heart warp.