People envied her childhood videos with her mom — until she revealed who filmed them, and why it still makes her cry
Looking back at old memories with loved ones might be a special thing for many people. So when a woman discovered a bunch of old videos of herself with her mom, many people told her that she was lucky to have them. Now, even though the woman agreed that the memories were precious, she quickly pointed out that there was something much bigger than "luck" at play that allowed her to have those videos. The daughter, Kelly Brouk, who goes by @motherknowswest_ on Instagram, shared the videos and the person behind them through a post. The brief clip received over 16.8 million views.
"You are so lucky to have so many videos with your mom," the text overlay of the video read. Kelly shared several clips of herself as a baby, as a toddler and as a young child with her mom. There were clips from picnics, park visits, ski trips and more. Finally, the woman revealed the reason behind being "lucky." The camera turned towards a mirror and revealed that the woman's dad was behind all the videos. The caption to the video read, "Our luck, the man behind the camera, my sweet Dad." The old videos had become even more precious for Kelly after she became a parent herself, per Newsweek.
"I love watching our home videos and seeing life through my parents' eyes, especially now that I'm a parent myself." She added, "I didn't realize it at the time, but as an adult, I recognize what a privilege it is to look back on my childhood so fondly. I have a much greater appreciation of the sacrifices my own mom and dad made to raise my two sisters and me." The woman's dad, Ken, had continued the tradition of capturing special memories with his grandchildren. "He's always been the most present dad and now 'papa' to his grandbabies. He still loves capturing moments—just on his phone now." Earlier, when Kelly was a child, the man used to carry his camcorder with him all the time.
Many people shared their own childhood memories and appreciated the woman's dad in the comments section of the video. @lauren098 wrote, "My father was also the cameraman! The only reason I have photos from part of my childhood is because he took them." @mixingxcolours commented, "Omg, same with my family… I've got so many videos of my sisters and me before the age 10 years old! Love watching them, all thanks to my dad too." @echtmama remarked, "It used to be the dads who caught everything on camera. I‘m kind of sad that this has changed so much. I am a mom of 5, but I hardly have any pictures or videos of the kids and me."
@157ofgemma shared, "That's me, the one taking videos of everything always. My husband always thought it was annoying until one day he saw all my old videos of when our dogs were puppies and realized how valuable they are." @wearethelittergospel expressed, "I'd give anything for this. I have a tiny baby book that's half chewed up by a dog and absolutely no videos of my mom. She's no longer here and I hate that I don't have much to show my own babies so they can know their grandmother through photos at least." In another post, Kelly shared a home video her dad had filmed of one of her school concerts.
You can follow Kelly Brouk (@motherknowswest_) on Instagram for more lifestyle content.