About 20 minutes after my father died, I thought of a question I wanted to ask him. Not a deep life engaging question - just the location of a motel on Sanibel Island. But he was the last person who could have answered it and suddenly...he couldn't.
Once in a while the children will ask to hear stories in my past and I think "How boring! The grandchildren are so much more interesting!" I struggle to drudge up interesting events - like living through the Vietnam era or having a bomb shelter in the cold war. Like knowing how to use correction tape (or whiteout) or roller skate keys.
Now I wonder if pictures are more useful for starting discussion. Through an unfortunate set of circumstances, all my baby and childhood pictures are gone. But the internet is full of pictures of hand held egg beaters and creamed chip beef on toast. Here are some ways I thought to share memories without being BORNING!
Send pictures of something I used with explanation
Send pictures of their parents and uncles at the ages the grandchildren are now
Scan and send report cards and drawings from their parents
Collect generation pictures - my grandmother, my mother and me all at 50
Collect family pictures of Christmas or July 4 past
Typical clothing for each decade I have been alive
And remember that some things - like kindness and faith in God and compassion and love NEVER EVER go out of style!
