The Deep Nostalgia™ Animation of My Dad’s Grandma Made Him a Little Boy Again for a Moment
- By Esther
Thank you to our user Christina McKillip from the U.S. who shared this story with us.
I was so excited when I saw my friend post her animated photo on Facebook in February. She said it was easy and so I went to my account on MyHeritage and followed the easy instructions to animate a photo using Deep Nostalgia™.
The photo I chose was of my paternal grandmother Bertha Lawson with her parents, Andrew and Lillian. Lillian was born in 1897 in Jefferson County, NY, the 6th great-granddaughter of a Revolutionary soldier from Rhode Island. I don’t remember her, as I was only 7 years old when she died in 1966, and we lived on opposite sides of the country. I have learned about her life through my father, Anthony. A sailor from Brooklyn, NY, he’s 86 years young and is the storyteller of the family. He and his grandmother had a special bond. He spent summers with her as a child.
So I sent the animated photo to my father via text message, as he lives in another state. The first words out of his mouth were, “I’ll be damned!” as he watched his mother and grandfather. Then he cried out, “Grandma!” in a childlike voice upon seeing his grandma move. Hearing him cry out like this gave me the memory of a lifetime; he sounded just like the little boy from yesteryear who loved his grandmother so much.
It was such a treat for me to see my great-grandparents, who I couldn’t remember, move in such a natural way.
Here is a photo of four generations of our family, taken circa 1962 in California: me with my Chatty Cathy doll, my father Anthony, my grandmother Bertha, and my great-grandmother, Lillian.
Thank you to MyHeritage for this wonderful tool. It made my ancestors come to life and brought a smile to my face.