Old memories

When was the last time you sat down with your relatives to here them talk of days gone by? Can you remember as a child sitting down with your grandparent listening to their stories? I know I can.

Unfortunately, I have only one surviving grandparent the other three having died during my childhood. However, her memories of her lifetime remain as vivid as if it were yesterday even though at parties, you can often here my granny and her two sisters argue about what happened where and when. Fortunately, for me I have enjoyed many years of entertainment, as I would sit listening to her recall memories of her lifetime. Spellbound I would listen as she recaptured her childhood during wartime Britain, of growing up on the farm. Memories of when one day she and her friend saw an aircraft as they went to school terrified it was an enemy aircraft they went the rest of the way on hands and knees. On eventually, arriving at school their headmaster's concerned reply was "well! It would not have happened if you were on time for school. She often spoke of how she hated school and would try to bunk off as much as she could without being found out

She would fondly remember meeting my papa and the early days of marriage into an Italian family. Reminiscing of holidays to Casino of how clear the sky was at night that the stars appeared so close that you could touch them. She recalled that on one trip to Italy my papa tried to explain to the train conductor that his 18-year-old mother required help getting of the train onto the platform when the cabin erupted in laughter his mother explained to him his mistake of introducing her as 18 instead of 80. She would often, and still does, teach me of old recipes given to her by her mother-in-law ranging from soups to pasta sauces to desserts.

She recalled stories of motherhood, beginning at 19 with the birth of my dad followed 2 years later by my aunt then 4 years after that by my youngest aunt. She would often recall of how as a small baby she could not get him to sleep, a trait he has carried throughout his entire life, and passed onto my daughter and me. I sat enthralled as stories emerged of how my dad's childhood antics would torment her. She would recall of how one day whilst making dinner she where skirt was tugged at by my 4 year old dad who informed her that baby was cold so he covered her, concerned with the information she went to check on my aunt to find that he had completely covered her with her blankets, including her head. She would tell me of how he would be sent to church in his best Sunday clothes only to come back an hour later covered from head to toe in mud.

My dad's recent quest to find his family roots has unearthed many old photographs, which allowed me to put faces to many of the remarkable characters stored within my grannies memories.

Learn more about this author, Nadia Mcneil.
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