I’m sure everybody has had this feeling at one time or another…
I wish I could talk to my parents, and ask them questions about things they were around to see (well before my time) while they were going on.
I’m pretty sure this is a universal feeling. My Mom did tell me about the influenza epidemic when she was a young woman. It was amazing to hear a first-hand account of her experiences during that time. My Dad told me about grandpa (his Dad) having typhoid fever. My Dad wasn’t born yet, but grandpa told him about it. It did leave Grandpa with a bowel issue for the rest of his life. And many other events and occurrences that I would find so interesting to hear about.
I guess the motto is “talk to people while they are here”.
Also Fatima. I am not Catholic, but it sure seems that something really happened in Portugal in 1917. Something worthy of note.
Well, that is the extent of my musings for today.
Have a good night, all.
See you tomorrow.
God bless everybody.
Patty
I can certainly relate. I’m at an age where many people retire, but I’m not quite ready to do that. But I’ve outlived all but a handful of my relatives.
I think a lot about my dad, who’s been gone for over 40 years, and wish I could have been more appreciative of him, when I had the opportunity. Most, if not all of my older cousins are gone now. In many cases, I didn’t know them all that well, but at one time I had 21 living cousins, and right now I can only think of four, with the possibility that there may be others in a branch of the family I hardly know, and haven’t been in touch with for over 50 years.
I had a cousin, long deceased who was dealt a bad hand in life. He had health problems, was very nervous and had a very tough life. I wish I could go back and see him with more mature eyes, and hopefully be able to be more supportive towards a relative who needed compassion and understanding.
The history of my family was never told to me, I knew the three living grandparents I had as a small child, knew that one of them had been an immigrant and had lived a hard life in the old country. From the handful of puzzle pieces I have, plus some genealogical information that some relatives have done, I now know the name of two of my great grandfathers, and we discovered that one humble branch of the family has roots in America that go back to 1620, but the blank spaces are still preponderant in my family history.
I think I have stitched together what happened to both sides of the family in the Great Depression, including staggering losses in a bank failure.
It would be wonderful to be able to ask my grandparents about this. I would love to know more about my great grandparents, all of whom I believe had most likely passed before I was born. But that information is lost, at least until the resurrection and restitution. It is that hope which I look forward to, when I can finally understand my ancestry and my full family history.
Carl Sagan wore his atheism on his sleeve. In a rare moment of self awareness, if not humility, Sagan admitted that he wished he could talk to deceased relatives, just to catch them up on family news. He didn’t believe this to be possible, but at least admitted that he was as human as the rest of us. But he inadvertently proved the words of Ecclesiastes 3:11 “ He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”
Amen to that