Peter Bamforth and his grandmother share a very special bond.
The 22-year-old is a successful YouTuber who often features his grandma in videos. Coming in at 24 million views, Peter generally surprises his fans with outrageous stunts and challenges. A few months ago, however, he surprised us all in a very different way.
This past August, Peter planned an emotional surprise for his grandmother that brought everyone to tears.
In a video posted August 19, he writes:
“I recently surprised my Grandma with footage from her wedding day in 1964. It’s been unseen for years.”
That’s right. Turns out that Peter had gotten a hold of two old rolls of film. In the video he explains; “I got given these old 8mm film reels. One’s from 1964, and the other is from 1976.”
The 1964 film reel features his grandma’s wedding video. The footage is more than half a century old, and she has never seen it before.
Being the good grandson he is, Peter immediately started planning a surprise. Bringing the reels to a video store, he was able to get the footage transferred onto DVD. The next time Peter was in town, he and his mother went to visit his grandma. She was instantly surprised by his appearance but had no idea what he still had in store.
Peter sets up the wedding video on his grandmother’s computer before calling her into the room.
When he starts playing the video, she instantly gasps, overcome with genuine emotion.
“What’s this?” someone asks her.
“My wedding,” she replies, almost in tears.
Holding her hands to her chest, Peter’s grandmother proceeds to relive one of the most special days of her life.
“How did you do this?” she asks her grandson, overwrought with emotions as she watches herself walking down the aisle.
As Peter’s grandmother watches the video, you can tell she’s not here anymore. She’s reimmersed in the days of her past, the forgotten images of yesteryear.
The 3-minute video is extremely emotional.
It serves as a powerful reminder to document the happy times in life. Through the years, things happen that can sometimes make good things seem distant— whether it be the loss of a loved one, bad health, or financial insecurity. Without reminders, cherished memories become hazy and distant, a muted copy of their vibrant past. Sarah Householder, a product designer at Quora, recalls her father lamenting:
“I’d give anything to have a video of our wedding. Now that our parents are gone, it would be so wonderful to have a record of all our relatives together on that day.”
Since being uploaded to YouTube, Peter’s video has been viewed thousands of times.
“Absolutely amazing. Not very often you see videos like this on YouTube.”
“That is completely adorable. I also want to cry right now.”
“You just made my day… I just want to hug her. I’m in tears watching her reaction.”
Watch the emotional video below.
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