Memories Of The Past.

[dodger_sister]

Today would have been Grandpa’s 95th birthday. He was born 01/20/20. Idk why it took me years to remember what day he was born on, when his day and year are the same number. I have a cousin who was born on Jan 19th, as well as our surrogate-foster brother-friend growing up, and Grandpa on the 20th and I always got confused and thought Grandpa was on the 19th as well. But it was 01/20/20. Sis sent a ‘thinking of you’ card to Grandma. It’s too bad this day didn’t fall on a weekend so we could have spent the day with her. But maybe that’s not what she would want - maybe she preferred to spend the day alone.

It seems like there are very few WWII veterans left these days and I feel like they have taken so much of their history with them. The things we read in our school books were mere facts compared to the stories Grandpa used to tell. He made that time come to life with vivid images and personal connections. And Grandma too, always telling her wild stories about traipsing across the country with her girlfriend and her new baby on her hip.

I also remember specifically a couple of the guys at Grandpa’s funeral talking about when Grandpa coached their Little league team. I never knew that actually, that Grandpa coached kids' sports. What I remember of him was just he and his grown sons going golfing together. It always seemed to me that Grandpa lived at the local golf course. That and the highway-side diner, where I loved for him to take me because they had the best gravy/roast beef dinner ever and he would introduce me to everyone there, so proud to be out with his granddaughter. I remember Grandpa going fishing with us. I remember him teaching us to cook and taking us for walks ‘back the lane’. A lot of Grandpa I got to experience first-hand, but so much was before my time and I had to capture those images through the stories he told.

I don’t wish to have lived in any time period other than this one, but it’s sad to see the memories of that time pass on. I guess all history is like that.

Comments

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Hugs. I've a friend who was born in May 1920.

[dodger-sister.livejournal.com]

Hugs. I've a friend who was born in May 1920.

Still living? It's so hard to think of it like, only 20 years after the turn of the century and now here we are 15 years after the turn of another century. Blows my mind a bit. /hugs back/

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Yes and going strong, doing her own shopping and travelling on buses! She has just recovered from falling downstairs and is most annoyed with herself over the accident.

[shirebound]

The things we read in our school books were mere facts compared to the stories Grandpa used to tell.

You're so lucky to have those memories. My uncle (Shiremom's brother) came home wounded from the Great War and would never talk about it much.

[dodger-sister.livejournal.com]

You're so lucky to have those memories. My uncle (Shiremom's brother) came home wounded from the Great War and would never talk about it much.

I think Grandpa got lucky that he was in the Navy and their ship never took a major hit. Though I am sure there are stories he never opened up enough to tell. Talking about arriving on the scene of Pearl Harbor after the bombing was the most tragic and upsetting of all his stories and yet, the ones he liked to talk about the most from that event were the ones about people coming together to help one another and doing whatever they could for their brothers in port.

[vikingprincess]

I keep trying to talk my dad, who is 86, into writing his memoirs. He did so MANY cool things in his life, and I don't know half of them.

I hope your memories today (well, yesterday) are good ones, and that your grandma is doing well, too.

[dodger-sister.livejournal.com]

I keep trying to talk my dad, who is 86, into writing his memoirs. He did so MANY cool things in his life, and I don't know half of them.

We need people like your dad to write down their stories, because otherwise what we end up with for our history is a bunch of books written by professors who most of the time weren't even there for the events they are writing about. We need the 'every man' to make us feel like we are right there beside them, living life day to day, able to look back a hundred years and know what it felt like to live there and then, for people like our fathers and grandfathers. What it would be like for people like us. That's the kind of history I like to read.

[vikingprincess]

Me too!