SHE HAS IT ALL WRONG

She needs to be listening. But I assume she is. And Grandma is paying attention to her, too, like a good Grandma would do.

But the elder one's tale is more important. Because when she is gone, so are all her stories. So is all the history, all the times of a bygone age that was important to her and her granddaughter.

For once it's gone, it's gone.

I'm often asking my older brother about a relative or a time prior to my existence. Some stuff not very entertaining; some very personal that might not mean too much to others, but for me and my family vital.

For instance, he was working in the back of the Red and White Grocery Store my parents and my mom's brother and wife co-owned. A shipment of potatoes had just come in and he sorting them into ten-pound bags when he heard a horrific scream from my mother.

A Western-Union messenger on a bicycle brought her the news that her brother had been killed in The Battle of the Bulge. And yet I need a clarification from him as to whether or not my uncle's wife and our grandmother were working in the store when the news came. He only shared about our mom's scream. After my uncle's death, Dad and Mom sold the store: they just didn't have the heart for it anymore.

It's just that sort of thing. Important? Well, to me it is. Details are important, and eye witness accounts have been accepted since Mosaic law. So I'd like to know.

Don't let the opportunity pass you by. Listen and share family/friend stories from long ago. It's an important kind of literature--a lasting kind.