I enjoyed the "folksy" ease of this piece and the parental wisdom that it passes on to the reader. That, with the audio recording is a great fit. Now I have to go back and see if it is only these happy memories that you have added voice to - you know, the ones that make you smile when you pull them out to reread them before you do the voiceover.
I'm guessing that the ones that bring emotions like anger or sadness while reading the text to yourself will bring a separate challenge - likely tone will be the obvious one, but I bet cadance will change too. I'm pretty sure that the set of your mouth, the narrowing of your eyes, or the tightness in the back of the throat will change not only the sound of the words but the speed and rhythm with which you deliver them.
If you only make audio versions of these sweet written memories, I will be fine with that. And I will enjoy each and every one. I'm actually quite OK with the AI voice, with its mechanical quality, delivering the others ...
Hi Vickie! Thank you! I am pleased at how well these stories perform on substack. I keep mentioning in the intro how this type of story seems to fail on Medium. I plan to do more of them here. I've got a pretty good backlog and now I have motivation to write some more. I think I'll still do the voiceovers for all my stubstack pieces becuase it's good practice and it kind of breaks up the week. Thanks for the comment!
You're very welcome. I see that it can be a win-win then. I enjoy the real voice quality far more than I had expected.
I think there is something about the way all of us change the pronunciation of words when we use the same one more than once - something that never happens with AI voices - at least, not yet. And the poor AI always seems to guess wrong (again, so far) when the word is a homograph. The last one that jarred me enough to look at the text (although I already knew what had happened having been hit with the same one before) was the past tense of "to read" when it should have been pronounced the same as the colour, but wasn't.
So, I'm glad that I have not encouraged you to start doing something that you have already started to wish you hadn't. As for why they have not done as well on Medium, I can only guess.
My first thought is that it is the nature of the Medium reader (and the Medium writer) to give more value (claps) and attentive involvement (comments) to the pieces that make us THINK. And nothing makes us think and react like ideas (both written and spoken) on the scale that runs from indignation to anger. Sweet memory pieces, with their rocking chair rhythm, don't demand a triggered response the same way a true-horror story about an abusive parent does. I'm one of many people who rush in to say thank you for putting words to something that has been sitting on the edge of my consciousness for a lifetime. We recognize the cost to you in writing it at the same time as that little gut punch costs and relieves us at the same time.
And we thank you, acknowledge your work, and follow you because there is connection, and an intense one at that. At least, that's my take on it - for today. I'm sure I'll keep ruminating on it and might even have more to say at a latter date.
Thank you Vickie! Those thought provoking pieces are good for me although sometimes I'm tired after writing them. My wife much prefers these humorous stories from parenting, and I think they're good for the soul. I am pleased to have a place for them and a reason to keep writing them. I think it's good for me to read them too. I even listened to the recording again this morning when I got the email :) I haven't heard my wife's response yet, I'm sure she'll tell me when she gets home.
Here's another quick side note about the sound recordings and a complete change of topic...
My mother-in-law is nearing 102, still sound of mind and possessed with an good memory of her youth. I have been encouraging my partner and her siblings to ask their mom questions and record her responses for the children, great- and great-great-, to remember her when she is gone and for the ones who will never get to know her other than through photos and family stories. This was something I truly wish I had done with my grandparents who had their own takes on life in the early 1900s. My messed up relationship with my parents did not lend itself to that being something I would either value or wish to pass on to my niece and her children, so even though I realized the loss with my parents' parents, I did not pursue it with my own. I'm sure that there was a story to be told about ways that my grandparents contributed to the damage my parents were to later inflict on us, but I had my own relationship with them and was less damaged by my grandparents' failings. Of course, this is something that I only came to understand after they had all died and long after I had left my country of birth.
My partner and her family have been more than reluctant to make voice recordings for future generations exploring their mother's early life. Recently I have had a thought that I might be forcing them to plunge into a grief process that they are still in denial of having to face. While there might be more to it than that, it is enough for me to back off in my suggestions (as well intentioned as they might be).
So, that's my overly long introduction to what I wanted to say about your making audio recordings about memories of your family and the journey you have been taking. Gather them together in whatever kind of container will do them justice. You are young enough that this does not have the same urgency as it will far into your future, but I suggest that you start it now. It will be an easy thing to add to from time to time (upgrading the technology that holds it from time to time) and, from what you have said about your relationship with your girls, they will thank you for this labour of love. *smile* There's no reason not to start with the sweet ones...
That's absolutely been on my mind! I've been thinking of sharing the fairy stories I've been writing for my girls. I have I think over 1,000 pages, so if I decided to do that I'd have Substack material for 10 years!
I am a retired intrapartum OB nurse & midwife. Your story brought back the memory of the great pacifier affair, lol. It seems that these pacifiers were supplied to hospitals all over our country by a formula company that shall remain nameless; and many, many, parents went through the same experience with their baby & dependence on the hospital supplied pacifier. If my memory serves me correctly, it turned out that the pacifiers were not innocuous, but had been manufactured with an alcohol based flavoring, which explained most, if not all the baby fuss when said item was not available to baby.
Ha! The plot thickens! You'd think the formula company would have offered them up for sale to capitalize on this nefarious scheme. Sigh. I bet you have a lot of fascinating stories from your career!
I was just telling my wife the story of my son’s lost last pacifier and my husband’s call to my new evening job at Sears for me to check my pockets. Wasn’t there either. It turned up months later at the bottom of the puppet basket in the playroom. Our son just rolled with it; at 26, he’s still the same.
It's funny how our fondest memories often come from the moments of greatest struggle. It makes me laugh how easily kids can outsmart us :) Thanks for the lovely comment!
Congratulations! The only rule is to sleep whenever you can. Parenting is seriously 98% about getting sleep. Don't be afraid to ask your mom to come and watch for an hour so you can get a nap.
Haha Thank you! will keep that in mind. As for my mom coming over, I live in Sweden and she's in Pakistan so that won't be an option :p. Will just need to be smart with sleep I guess.
This is terrific. I now have great-grandchildren, but I recall the pacifier days with my own precious children. You did an outstanding job describing the baby as well as the trauma to you and your wife.
So very funny, as I have an almost-two-year-old granddaughter, and that *paci* (along with TWO others...just.in.case!) accompany her into her crib each night (and each naptime). I cannot even imagine having only ONE ~ that would be insanely stressful and is actually a terrifying thought :)
I chuckled all the way through this article. When my granddaughter was born, she received a plushy elephant “Lovey”. She became helplessly attached to it and couldn’t sleep or self soothe without it. When she was old enough to walk, she started hiding it in places you’d never think to look and she never remembered where. My kids bought three more, so she had a Lovey at her house, one at my house, one at her other grandparent’s house and one for the car. Eventually, she could tell the difference between the original Lovey and the other three and began to reject the extras. My kids finally put a Tile locator inside the original Lovey, so they can always find it!
My apologies for not getting back to you sooner. Easter baking was underway when I read your article, and I simply ran out of time. :).
Yes, there are stories galore, but as they usually involve institutions and/or medical personnel, it is best that I forget them, lol.
But your excellent description of parental woes regarding those pacifiers just struck me and the memories of many other parents coming to us and begging for another one came flooding back!
This was really funny Walter. Definitely brought back memories of having to stop at a store for an emergency pacifier when we had left the house without it 😂 and then finally finding the holy grail solution to loosing the pacifier problem with one of those straps that attached to the babies clothes, which also kept it clean and off the floor when she would spit it out from time to time. But then she grew strong enough and smart enough to clip that one off and away it went flying across the room along with the pacifier. Lol 👶 Very nostalgic 😁 and “yeah, I remember those days.” 😊
I still have the two pacifiers my kids used. I keep ‘em in my bra. :)
Hahaha!
I don't know, MIchelle. That's an awfully "uncomfortable" image. *grins*
What can I say? I'm sentimental about old things!
Thanks for the giggle. Me, too, as it turns out.
Pics or it didn't happen!
I'll pack my things and leave now.
😂😂😂
Thanks for putting voice to this one, Walter.
I enjoyed the "folksy" ease of this piece and the parental wisdom that it passes on to the reader. That, with the audio recording is a great fit. Now I have to go back and see if it is only these happy memories that you have added voice to - you know, the ones that make you smile when you pull them out to reread them before you do the voiceover.
I'm guessing that the ones that bring emotions like anger or sadness while reading the text to yourself will bring a separate challenge - likely tone will be the obvious one, but I bet cadance will change too. I'm pretty sure that the set of your mouth, the narrowing of your eyes, or the tightness in the back of the throat will change not only the sound of the words but the speed and rhythm with which you deliver them.
If you only make audio versions of these sweet written memories, I will be fine with that. And I will enjoy each and every one. I'm actually quite OK with the AI voice, with its mechanical quality, delivering the others ...
Hi Vickie! Thank you! I am pleased at how well these stories perform on substack. I keep mentioning in the intro how this type of story seems to fail on Medium. I plan to do more of them here. I've got a pretty good backlog and now I have motivation to write some more. I think I'll still do the voiceovers for all my stubstack pieces becuase it's good practice and it kind of breaks up the week. Thanks for the comment!
You're very welcome. I see that it can be a win-win then. I enjoy the real voice quality far more than I had expected.
I think there is something about the way all of us change the pronunciation of words when we use the same one more than once - something that never happens with AI voices - at least, not yet. And the poor AI always seems to guess wrong (again, so far) when the word is a homograph. The last one that jarred me enough to look at the text (although I already knew what had happened having been hit with the same one before) was the past tense of "to read" when it should have been pronounced the same as the colour, but wasn't.
So, I'm glad that I have not encouraged you to start doing something that you have already started to wish you hadn't. As for why they have not done as well on Medium, I can only guess.
My first thought is that it is the nature of the Medium reader (and the Medium writer) to give more value (claps) and attentive involvement (comments) to the pieces that make us THINK. And nothing makes us think and react like ideas (both written and spoken) on the scale that runs from indignation to anger. Sweet memory pieces, with their rocking chair rhythm, don't demand a triggered response the same way a true-horror story about an abusive parent does. I'm one of many people who rush in to say thank you for putting words to something that has been sitting on the edge of my consciousness for a lifetime. We recognize the cost to you in writing it at the same time as that little gut punch costs and relieves us at the same time.
And we thank you, acknowledge your work, and follow you because there is connection, and an intense one at that. At least, that's my take on it - for today. I'm sure I'll keep ruminating on it and might even have more to say at a latter date.
Thank you Vickie! Those thought provoking pieces are good for me although sometimes I'm tired after writing them. My wife much prefers these humorous stories from parenting, and I think they're good for the soul. I am pleased to have a place for them and a reason to keep writing them. I think it's good for me to read them too. I even listened to the recording again this morning when I got the email :) I haven't heard my wife's response yet, I'm sure she'll tell me when she gets home.
Here's another quick side note about the sound recordings and a complete change of topic...
My mother-in-law is nearing 102, still sound of mind and possessed with an good memory of her youth. I have been encouraging my partner and her siblings to ask their mom questions and record her responses for the children, great- and great-great-, to remember her when she is gone and for the ones who will never get to know her other than through photos and family stories. This was something I truly wish I had done with my grandparents who had their own takes on life in the early 1900s. My messed up relationship with my parents did not lend itself to that being something I would either value or wish to pass on to my niece and her children, so even though I realized the loss with my parents' parents, I did not pursue it with my own. I'm sure that there was a story to be told about ways that my grandparents contributed to the damage my parents were to later inflict on us, but I had my own relationship with them and was less damaged by my grandparents' failings. Of course, this is something that I only came to understand after they had all died and long after I had left my country of birth.
My partner and her family have been more than reluctant to make voice recordings for future generations exploring their mother's early life. Recently I have had a thought that I might be forcing them to plunge into a grief process that they are still in denial of having to face. While there might be more to it than that, it is enough for me to back off in my suggestions (as well intentioned as they might be).
So, that's my overly long introduction to what I wanted to say about your making audio recordings about memories of your family and the journey you have been taking. Gather them together in whatever kind of container will do them justice. You are young enough that this does not have the same urgency as it will far into your future, but I suggest that you start it now. It will be an easy thing to add to from time to time (upgrading the technology that holds it from time to time) and, from what you have said about your relationship with your girls, they will thank you for this labour of love. *smile* There's no reason not to start with the sweet ones...
That's absolutely been on my mind! I've been thinking of sharing the fairy stories I've been writing for my girls. I have I think over 1,000 pages, so if I decided to do that I'd have Substack material for 10 years!
YEAH! Bring it on. I still love a good fairy story myself.
Hi Walter
I am a retired intrapartum OB nurse & midwife. Your story brought back the memory of the great pacifier affair, lol. It seems that these pacifiers were supplied to hospitals all over our country by a formula company that shall remain nameless; and many, many, parents went through the same experience with their baby & dependence on the hospital supplied pacifier. If my memory serves me correctly, it turned out that the pacifiers were not innocuous, but had been manufactured with an alcohol based flavoring, which explained most, if not all the baby fuss when said item was not available to baby.
Ha! The plot thickens! You'd think the formula company would have offered them up for sale to capitalize on this nefarious scheme. Sigh. I bet you have a lot of fascinating stories from your career!
I was just telling my wife the story of my son’s lost last pacifier and my husband’s call to my new evening job at Sears for me to check my pockets. Wasn’t there either. It turned up months later at the bottom of the puppet basket in the playroom. Our son just rolled with it; at 26, he’s still the same.
It can cause panic when you can't find the preferred pacifier!
This is a great story. I never had babies or toddlers of my own. I was "adopted" into a family of a wife and two older children.
This story gives me an insight into what I missed. The good and the bad.
Thank you.
It's funny how our fondest memories often come from the moments of greatest struggle. It makes me laugh how easily kids can outsmart us :) Thanks for the lovely comment!
I have a child on the way and, well, this gives me a sneak peak of what to expect :p
Congratulations! The only rule is to sleep whenever you can. Parenting is seriously 98% about getting sleep. Don't be afraid to ask your mom to come and watch for an hour so you can get a nap.
Haha Thank you! will keep that in mind. As for my mom coming over, I live in Sweden and she's in Pakistan so that won't be an option :p. Will just need to be smart with sleep I guess.
This is terrific. I now have great-grandchildren, but I recall the pacifier days with my own precious children. You did an outstanding job describing the baby as well as the trauma to you and your wife.
So very funny, as I have an almost-two-year-old granddaughter, and that *paci* (along with TWO others...just.in.case!) accompany her into her crib each night (and each naptime). I cannot even imagine having only ONE ~ that would be insanely stressful and is actually a terrifying thought :)
I chuckled all the way through this article. When my granddaughter was born, she received a plushy elephant “Lovey”. She became helplessly attached to it and couldn’t sleep or self soothe without it. When she was old enough to walk, she started hiding it in places you’d never think to look and she never remembered where. My kids bought three more, so she had a Lovey at her house, one at my house, one at her other grandparent’s house and one for the car. Eventually, she could tell the difference between the original Lovey and the other three and began to reject the extras. My kids finally put a Tile locator inside the original Lovey, so they can always find it!
Ha! We had a stuffed poodle like that. It eventually got lost at a hotel. Our kids certainly do challenge us!
Boy do they, but the rewards are worth it!
"It received 28 claps and one comment."
I instinctively wanted to highlight part of this story. :-)
Haha, thank you!
Hi Walter
My apologies for not getting back to you sooner. Easter baking was underway when I read your article, and I simply ran out of time. :).
Yes, there are stories galore, but as they usually involve institutions and/or medical personnel, it is best that I forget them, lol.
But your excellent description of parental woes regarding those pacifiers just struck me and the memories of many other parents coming to us and begging for another one came flooding back!
Be well
No need to apologize :) I fully understand how the obligations of life whisk us away like an irresistible current. Thanks for your kind words!
This was really funny Walter. Definitely brought back memories of having to stop at a store for an emergency pacifier when we had left the house without it 😂 and then finally finding the holy grail solution to loosing the pacifier problem with one of those straps that attached to the babies clothes, which also kept it clean and off the floor when she would spit it out from time to time. But then she grew strong enough and smart enough to clip that one off and away it went flying across the room along with the pacifier. Lol 👶 Very nostalgic 😁 and “yeah, I remember those days.” 😊