bearisgray

Are there any things that you wish you had asked your parents or grandparents before they died?

Or paid better attention to when the topics were brought up?

My Grandma B was a great source of information - but she would go on and on about the 16th cousin twice removed that was married to an 6th cousin four times removed - that I had never met - so I sort of zoned out when she was talking. Don't remember her talking that much about the people that I actually knew!

QuiltnNan

i just wish i'd spent more time getting to know my grandparents and greats. as a youngster, i was too much into playing and not interacting with adults. i was fortunate to know all of my great grandparents, though.

Edie

I loved my grandma. Grandpa too, but for different reasons. Grandma taught me inside the house, kitchen and heart stuff - Grandpa taught me that baby chicks can't swim (after I couldn't figure out why they sank and duckies didn't.) and outside stuff, growing raspberries, sheep, beekeeping.

But Grandma taught me one thing and she always wrote it in a birthday card or when we left the farm for home, she would give me a hug and say "Be good and you'll always be happy". Grandpa and Grandma had a little farm in Waterloo, Wisconsin. I loved it there - Fireflies at night, rooster crowing in the morning, windmill creaking and the sheep baa'ing! And my little lamb - Sammy. He was the black sheep in the herd. Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us here in St. Paul and mom called us in for dinner and we sat down and said grace and we're eating and chatting and Grandma said "How do you like the dinner?" "It's good", we said. Mom said "It's Sammy". I was about nine years old at the time........I am going to be 76 come September and have never been able to eat lamb since. My poor little Sammy. That was when I learned that farm animals are not pets and my son and his family live on a farm and they have gone through the same thing with the grandkids and son of a gun, I felt so bad for them the first time. Deja vu all over again!!!!!!! Cherish the memories of grandma and grandpa. They are too soon gone. I have several of grandma's recipes - my favorite is Wisconsin Hickory Nut Cake. A Prize recipe. Can't find Wisconsin Hickory Nuts that easily, however.

I am happy.
Edie

Moonglow

I wish I had paid more attention to my mother when she was cooking Polish food.

MaryKatherine

Surprisingly the information my parents didn't talk about is turning out to be more important that anything else. Their Health and who died of what. And to make it even more mysterious, my dad was a doctor. But they subscribed to the idea that "the kids don't need to know that."

coopah

I wish I'd written down the information shared by my husband's grandfather about the wagon train. He was on the last one out of Nebraska.

I wish I'd asked more about my maternal grandmother's growing up years. Her mother died shortly after childbirth of her fourth child. So how did the family handle all that?

My father's mother let it be known that my brother was her favorite, but I wish I'd been able to get around all that and ask her about her family. Family lore now has it that she was forced into marrying, and it would be good to know if that was true or not. If so, it would explain a lot, but on the other hand, why would that have been done? She was the only girl in that family.

And there are things I'd like to explain to my son and his wife, but they aren't interested. It's all about her.

celwood

When my father was still alive and bedridden I would fly every couple of months to see him. I would sit by his bedside and he would tell me stories about his growing up. I still cherish these times

Sewnoma

I wish I had gotten into quilting when either (or better, both!) of my grandmothers were still alive. They were both very dedicated and prolific quilters and I wish they could have seen that their beloved hobby was going to be kept up in the family. Plus I wonder how many things they could have taught me, how much bonding we could have done working on projects together. But both of my parents were the youngest of several children, so all of my grandparents had passed away by the time I was in my mid 20's, and I didn't pick up quilting until just a couple years ago (I'm nearly 40 now).

Sandygirl

Grandparents? Whatz that? My folks were the youngest of 7-10 kids each side. They did not have kids until in their 30's. So.....no memories for me! Waiting to have kids later in life deprives them of grandparents.

Sandy

Tartan

Most of us have the luxury of knowing are parents and grandparents. We have written up some of our oral history for further generations. I have also saved as many wedding portraits as possible. I don't think further generations will be all that interested in the ton of other photos but I think they should at least have the wedding portraits for doing their family trees.
I worry about the children artificially conceived and adopted with no history. It must be hard for them.