get my dad's old home movies converted to dvd

Found at least 2 more boxes of film reels, unmarked, in the attic. 2 boxes of slides…unmarked. What the heck could be on all this film? I need to relearn how to run the projector to see if they are even worth conserving.
And here I thought that we just had to worry about the one box stashed in the office, the one with images of us growing up. Of course, it makes sense that there would be more. Did I really think that Dad only started filming things when I was born? He’d been making videos for 25 years before that.
On a related note, we also found probably a dozen cameras and video cameras in the attic. You could say my dad was a film buff…:)

My dad always had a camera with him. He was the one we posed for and smiled at, squinting into the sun on a beach or in front of a historical home or on Christmas morning. He was the one carrying the bulky bag over his shoulder or the strap around his neck. He was also the one who knew the names of all the people in the photographs and loved to recount his memories of them.

One of our favorite things to do when we were little was watch Dad’s old home movies. We would beg him to set up the old projector and the screen and then we’d settle on the couches in anticipation. What’s better than a movie night starring yourself and all your family?

Dad’s movies ranged from what I think was his own 10th birthday party on his childhood front lawn (just down the street from my house now) to our high school graduations, most of those 8mm on big bulky reels. There are videos of my grandpa’s birthdays, videos of our vacations, videos of Dad and Mom before we were born (he liked to set up little stories for them to act out!). They are all in an old box in my mother’s house. Not the best place for storage or preservation. I fear every day is one day too late or even that she’ll throw them out.

I have looked into some places that can restore the videos and the price per reel is very steep. To do them all correctly and have enough copies made for all who want them (I mean, my cousin has to have a copy of that old movie of us at the local carnival where she has on short-shorts and knee-high socks, doesn’t she?) would be more than I could afford. I waited to ask my mom to help with the cost but now I think this will happen by default.

We’ll be quietly and yes, sneakily, taking over my mom’s finances so I may have access to that sort of cash sooner rather than later. How better should our “inheritance,” as my brother keeps fretfully calling it, be spent than to help preserve these precious memories?