#5--69 Things I've learned in almost 69 years; take notes and ask questions when hearing old family stories

 

My daughter-in-law Lauren gave this to me to save my family memories for their one-year-old son Miles

 As I approach my 69th birthday on the last day of this month, I can look over my shoulder at a lot of life happenings and at what I've learned from them.  It's time for me to pull some of these items out of my mental drawer to share them with my grandkids and anybody else who would be interested.

My fifth item and I'm not doing these in order of importance is about my regret that I never took notes about my family background and now that I'm well into senior citizen age, my memories of what I was told is starting to get fuzzy.

I was raised by my mother who came from a family of 12 children who were all born and raised in the Thumb of Michigan on a sugar beet farm.  I grew up hearing story after story from my mom and her sisters about their life.  Their parents died when their kids were young and the older kids kept the family together.  It's a real life story that should be remembered and I could have gotten it page, line and verse.

My dad is a mystery man who I know very little about.  My mom shared about him and as I got older, I would nod my head and smile as she told the stories over and over.  

Now I wish I had all this.  With all the devices available to record these stories, I'd have it all.  I wish I had just half of what I was told.  I'm missing some amazing stories.