When I Worra Kid

We went to see my grandparents as a last trip before coming back to Washington yesterday and it was so lovely to see them. They are in their early 80's and have really experienced life, a life that nobody my age would ever know about. They have seen nearly four of my lifetimes and remember lots from all of it.

They spoke of when they went to school, two completely different schools and how the teachers would walk around with a cane in hand ready to whack the nearest non self-disciplined child and how the Father in one of their schools, as it was a children's Catholic school, would come into the classroom on a Monday morning and whip their cane on the front desks ready to punish the child that hadn't gone to Mass the day previously. They told us of the ink wells and fountain pens they used in the classrooms and the blotting paper they had to utilise in case their pens dripped ink onto the page; which as my Grandma told me, it frequently did. She told me that her teacher would put big rings around every over splodged page and the ink that would fall down their fingers and wrists whilst writing so that by the time the end of the school day came her hand would be blackened with ink. They told me that at the end of each day the ink wells would either be collected up and washed or they were responsible for their own ink well which had to be cleaned and put away.

My Grandma told us, very briefly, of what things were like during the Second World War, an experience I will never ever have - not of back then anyway. My Grandad told us what things were like for his family during the war. My Grandma told us that her father was one of the first men to ever ride in a rubber tire vehicle and how she spent her afternoons listening to the radio and using an 'amplifier' (I think that's what she called it) to make it just that bit louder.

They told us what it was like to have children 50 odd years ago and how it was completely different to what it is now and how my Mother would always cling to my Grandad when he came home from work until he picked her up and hugged her and how Grandma would have to wash the nappies because there was no such thing as Pampers or Huggies. My mother in fact only had Pampers when I was born, before that they were reusable and washable - non of this recycling rubbish.

Well, my Silver Cross certainly doesn't look like this!

I think we young ones take for granted a lot of the things we have these days. We have televisions, internet, mobile phones, internet on our mobile phones, we have washing machines, dryers and dishwashers. We take all of these things for granted but most of all, I think we take for granted our heritage. Our past and those in our family who make up our past. I rarely visit my Grandparents; it doesn't help that I live 100 odd miles away but that is no excuse. The stories of the past will soon be gone and all we will have is memories, memories that are shaded and sketched and a little unbelievable in parts. The World Wars and the times my Grandparents grew up in are most definitely alien to me and  anyone who was born after a time where they could remember the war for themselves.

Of the Grandparents on my father's side my Grampy is passed and no longer with us and my Nana, blessed Nana, sadly has Alzheimer's disease. All of her memories are lost now in to the deep abyss of nowhere. It is at these times I urge you to keep a record of your life, even if one day you stare at the page and don't know what to write; tell them that you don't know what to write. Tell your children and your children's children of your life before it is too late; before you have to frantically get in any time you can to see them and tell them everything you know. My Grandparents are far wiser than I am and far wiser than I will ever know. Don't disrespect that. Take time today to do what you can do tomorrow. Yes, you can put it off, but tomorrow won't always come.