That smile, that laugh...

                    Wow...  That smile.  That laugh, so sweet.  So contagious - the corners of your mouth begin to turn up involuntarily, without thought - no fighting it!

                   I came across this video and some other footage and it was like finding buried treasure.  Or a beautiful secluded beach.  There are precious few shots of Kimmy in the frames that I found. 

                 We got our first video camera when Cody was born.  You know how it goes.  The first born always has the most pictures taken of them, and the most videos, too.  We video's everything, every movement, every milestone.  We do have a decent amount of video of Autumn, too.  But, certainly, it is evident, that the filming declines for the second child.  Then there was Tonio.  Kim would often lament that we had not taken enough video of our youngest.  Our baby.  It was something like work to remind each other to drag out the video to capture whatever moment in time that was occurring for the bambini by the time we had three.  We did ok, though.

                  It seems that, as parents, we are so focused on making sure we have adequate photos and film of our children to capture their childhood forever.  Memories of yesterday to make us laugh and reminisce as we get older.  "What if we wake up one day when we are 55 and say 'I wish we had had kids?'" Kim said to me one day when we were in our early 30's.  (and don't think the irony of her choosing to use the age 55, and the number of days she was sick, have escaped me...)  She was right.  I'm so glad I listened to her on that one!  But, I wish I had taken more footage of her!  We just thought to film the bambini, so when we were old, together, we could pop in a tape and nostalgically relive the kid's childhoods.  I guess what I'm trying to say, is, don't make this same mistake - take the film/photos of your loved one now!  I suppose we just never thought - well, we just knew that we were going to be together forever...

              This video footage was from Easter of '10.  Just weeks after our dear pup, Zona, passed away suddenly from spleen cancer.  She must have been terribly sick already.  There were signs, I just missed them...

              I feel so blessed to have found this particular clip.  It has it all!  Kim's smile.  Her laugh.  Her sweet, angelic voice...I showed it to the bambini and they stared, speechless - soaking it all in.  Then, intuitively, Autumn leaned closer to look into my eyes...I gave her a smile - she smiled back and looked back at the screen. 

             There is a longer clip I found, of the bambini playing on the slip 'n slide out back.  Kim is trimming the olive tree.  One foot on the garden wall, the other on the kid's playground rope ladder, precariously balancing so she could cut a errant limb.  The rope ladder is swaying and I happened to pan over, making a comment  - Kim did not miss a beat, instead of answering in words, she began to mimic a monkey!  "That is the most exotic monkey I have ever seen" I replied.

             She was spontaneous, funny - and able to turn the mood in any situation in a heartbeat. 

            Kim and I focused on the bambini - they were/are our life.  So, I feel even more blessed that I captured this moment...captured Kim, on film...to enjoy over and over...and to share with you.

             Love,

                   Dave