The Life of a Twenty-first Century Grandparent
It’s a sad fact that younger people in western societies are often way too busy or just become caught up running their own lives than to have time for their elderly relatives. Cialis effectiveness This often means they don’t get to spend a lot quality time with their grandparents, especially if they live afar. Kamagra use But here’s something that we all might want to think about a little more frequently, and that is, if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t even be here!
Getting old, often frail, and perhaps unwell too (especially for those living to a ripe old age), is no fun at the best of times. Without the love and support of a caring family, many of these ageing grandparents will feel extremely lonely too, even if they never say so out loud. This stage and state of life certainly doesn’t warrant the phrase, ‘The Golden Years’.
Every human being needs to feel a degree of significance and perhaps even more so when becoming elderly. Alas, it’s hard to feel worthy or useful when no one seems to care or need you for anything. Perhaps folks do care, deep down, but not enough to make a difference to the lives of their elderly grandparents. Regular phone calls, short visits, small gifts, and a listening ear, is usually all it takes to brighten the day of many an old age pensioner.
Genealogy Starts with the Living
Did you know that the interest in genealogy is on the up? Ironic when you think about how people are trying to trace their family tree as far back as they can go using information services and online resources that contain huge structured trees of information. Such resources will consist of old books and county directories, birth marriage and death certificates, parish registers, census data, wills, and gravestone inscriptions, ad infinitum.
But all this is just data, and as interesting as it is, the best family tree will consist of real stories and events. This is the real family history, and getting elderly relatives involved in the process will be enlightening, entertaining, and exciting for both parties. But more than that, it will give grandparents a sense of significance as they share their life story with the younger generations.
These memories from a distant past may surprise, provoke, and even shock the one writing down grandma’s recollections. A life might be revealed that was perhaps up until now quite forgotten and essentially unknown, even by those closest to the one revealing the events of their past.
Picture this if you will; A great grandchild sitting with her great grandmother taking notes, asking questions, and showing genuine interest in what she has to say. This great grandmother may be able to talk in detail about so many family members, including her parents, her grandparents, and maybe even her great grandparents too if you’re lucky. That’s a lot of information on people, places, and happenings reaching a long way back in time, and all coming straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak.
There’s a good chance grandma will have a treasure-trove of old photos stashed away somewhere too, perhaps in an old biscuit tin somewhere. There will inevitably be some family members who have never seen many of these old snapshots from once upon a time.
Only when the ole gal can’t remember any more, or is unable to go back any further in time, will the conventional methods of retrieving family history need to be called upon.
Lest We Not Forget
A man who was dying from a terminal illness once said that so long as someone somewhere remembers your name, there is still a part of you alive here on earth. In today’s somewhat selfish society, it seems that people are soon forgotten after they die, and that’s just so very sad, and a far cry from the respect and remembrance that used to be shown for the departed.
Old family members who are still very much alive and kicking have so much to reveal, so much to communicate, and all we have to do is ask! Ask and ye shall receive, and not only will you be learning about the era in which they grew up in, but you will be learning something about your ‘real’ family history, and the members of your immediate clan. It’s good to talk person to person, and although technology has replaced a lot of real world interaction, there is nothing quite as rewarding as connecting with our fellows in the flesh.
So rather than just gathering interesting data from various resources, why not write your own family history, or as much of it as you can, and then print your own book, or create your own website. This way, all the relatives, wherever they are in the world, can easily gain access to read your pages and view those photos. This type of personal creation will give great joy, laughter, and perhaps a few tears too, as folks near and far get to learn more about where they originated from as a direct consequence of your work.
Such a project will do wonders for strengthening family ties across the entire clan as it brings together, in print, those things which constitute your family unit.
A printed book entitled ‘The Story of ‘Whoever’, will not only give immense joy to the elderly, but it will also be an entertaining and educational hard copy that can be presented as gifts for other family members and passed down the generations for posterity. You never know, your work might be ‘added to’ as future generations come and go, and it will all be thanks to your efforts and those loving interviews you once had with a someone called grandma (or grandpa!).
