I found this film reel (I believe it's an 8mm) in an old box of "stuff" and didn't even remember having this type of camera. To see what was on the film reel, I decided to have it digitized with FOREVER. After getting the digitized file back, I discovered a hidden gem of family memories!

I think this home movie was recorded around 1954 at my Grandma and Grandpa Hink’s farmhouse in western Kansas, about seven miles outside Dodge City. I wasn’t on the film reel—this was probably five or six years before I was born.

I had never seen footage or pictures of my mom and grandparents at this age before. My mom is the dark-haired woman playing London Bridge Is Falling Down.

My brother Sam, also seen on this film reel, is helping feed my Grandparents' chickens. Sam’s also talking on the phone, as seen through the picture window. It was a party line, so I’m curious who might have been on the other end. My grandpa was the one filming everything—which you can see from his reflection in the window. The children running around in the video are my older cousins.

I'm so happy to see this footage for the first time, because otherwise, this film reel would have just continued to sit in a box not being preserved properly or possibly being lost over time.