My father’s voice is still on his answering machine and I love the way he delivers the message. Especially the way he says: Thank you. There’s a slight squeak at the end of the you.
I helped him install that machine a few months ago. His old one had broken and he always relied on me for electronic installations. I was his computer geek and phone machine expert and I must say I enjoyed the somewhat misbegotten confidence he had in me.
And I did not want to disappoint.
I sat with him when he recorded the message. He was already sick with cancer but going through a good phase.
He sounds very healthy on the message.
Friends are pressuring my stepmother to change the message. They tell her that’s it’s disturbing to them. My stepmother doesn’t want to take it off. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Also, she doesn’t hear it because she never calls herself.
My sister wants to keep it there. So do I. We both enjoy this daily encounter with our father. I don’t think I can bear the thought of it not being there. He was always the voice on their answering machine.
Pastor Meeter wrote this morning with a similar story:
My father-in-law died from multiple mialoma almost three years ago.
His distinctive voice is still what I hear whenever I call my
mother-in-law and she’s not home. His voice is the one who gives the
outgoing message on the answering machine.
What I would give to have a recording of my own grandfather’s voice.
His voice was unique, he spoke from somewhere back in his throat, but
high in the back and yet low in front, and with his distinctive
Amsterdam accent, which he could never shake, having immigrated at age
16, and never wanted to shake, being an Amsterdammer. I think it’s why
he so loved to visit us in Brooklyn, because it was the place in
America most like Amsterdam.
Save it! I lost my mom in 2005 and I still send her emails. Silly, I know, but her name is still in my address book and every once in awhile I just check her email name and send something along. Someone told me prior to my mom dying that I should record her voice because there are times I will really want to hear her voice. Somehow I never got around to doing it and I regret it now.
I save on audio files when I can, but also used my digital camera to make a video recording of my father’s voice on the answering machine, before my mother erased it-it was too painful for her to listen to each time….xg
That’s a good idea. I have a digital answering machine and when the power went out when I wasn’t home for a few days, I lost everything recorded on it.
That’s very moving. I still have the names and phone numbers of three dead friends in my cellphone, and my friend Cathy Seipp’s daughter gave me a pair of her suede pants I wear after Cathy finally lost her battle to lung cancer. I find it comforting to not lose touch in whatever ways I can. Callers who are troubled by this message should e-mail or write letters instead of calling.
You can save your Fathers message to an audio file. I helped my Mother-in-law do that. It is safer than the answering machine.