blaming okaasan for this one

[kaigou]

...and her observation that "yet another one of the downfalls of so many electronic distractions for my kids is that they've never heard most of these [family] stories."

Which reminded me of the drawback of being able to ask about family stories is that this translates for kids to "asking about all history" thanks to "history" being a pretty vague concept up to a certain age -- consisting entirely of "stuff that happened before I was born."

Thus is the logic for when my sister had a 2nd grade report due on the Revolutionary War. So she asked our mom over dinner what the Revolutionary War was like. Mom kinda blinks and admits that she wasn't even alive for World War II (she's a true baby boomer, born a year after the war ended). My sister was rather crushed, especially when our folks explained that the Revolutionary War was a long time before World War Two.

Then Mom gets the bright idea (for reasons I totally get now) to call her mother, explaining that although Mom doesn't know, Mom's certain Gramma will. (Remarkably, she kept a straight face while assuring us of this.) She puts my sister on the extension, and after the obligatory greetings, my sister explains she has to do a report and she has some questions. Gramma, gracious as always, is more than willing to help with any school project.

So my sister trots out the question: "Gramma, what was the Revolutionary War like?"

My grandmother doesn't even miss a beat. "Oh, goodness," she tells my sister, "I only go as far back as the Civil War. For anything about the Revolutionary War, we'll have to ask your grandfather."

Comments

[hokuton_punch]

Ahahaha that's beautiful. XD

My mother keeps saying that one day she's going to write down all the stories she remembers about my grandfather (who rode trains during the Depression, worked as a scab, and once had a doctor offer him his daughter's hand in marriage), but she hasn't yet. D:

[billie]

This is brilliant. :D

I love family stories, though, and really want to ask my paternal grandmother a few more things-- what it was like during and after the war for her, what moving to Hamburg meant, etc.

[okaasan59]

Ha, your female relatives have a mean sense of humor!

But that reminds me of when one of my kids (can't recall which) asked if my Dad (who has a prosthetic leg as a result of aneurysm complications) lost his leg in the Civil War. ^_^

[kaigou]

Heh, CP's daughter once asked him, when she was really little, "what it was like before there was dirt."

[leorising]

I LOL'd very, very hard. Thank you! :D