I've loved you for 91 years

I left work Wed night and drove 150 miles to meet my 91 year old Dad. 

We boarded a plane Thursday morning, and I accompanied him to go visit his older sister in PA, who is 96.  I haven't seen her for decades, but she is a dear person. One of the most intelligent people I've ever known. 

I am sitting in her living room right now, listening to stories nearly a century old, as my brother runs a video camera documenting.  She actually has memories from when she was 2 years old, in 1923.

I've spent the last day or so eating in the dining hall with octogenarians, and listening to their stories.

I think in this interconnected world with so much electronic communication, sometimes I forget what real connectedness looks like.  It's really impressive what humanity looks like when we strip away all of the virtual stuff.

I was acutely reminded last night when they hugged each other.  They got past the awkwardness of walkers and canes, then tenderly embraced. My Dad said to her, "I love you", and she leaned her frail 4' frame into his chest, hugged him, and said, "I've loved you for 91 years". 

This is a good weekend.

That's nice!  Thanks for posting that. It reminds me of why our circle of friends includes folks in their 80s.  

Our kids call them friends too. 

Very cool story!

Great story. 

I really wish I had taken the time to talk with my relatives about the family history before they passed.   

The video recording is a very good idea, and should be done far, far more than it is.

Well done. You are good people, I am pleased to be associated with you

That makes my heart hurt in a good way. Humanity rocks when we let it.

my Grandmother just turned 95, she is the last of her sisters and still has some stories to tell. Thankfully she lives close by and once a month my Mom and I take her out to breakfast and shopping

Their parents were EACH from families with 12 kids. My father and his sister had 75 first cousins. 

They are the last 2 left of the 75. 

Thanks for sharing that.

Now get to work turning it into a country song.

Very sweet story.   

My grandma is "only " 82. I think I'm going to go have lunch with her next week. Thanks for reminding me to visit her. 

Touching story, in this way too fast paced world we no longer get to spend time with our elders and hear their stories. Thanks for sharing this with us. My grandparents are long gone but still have time to make sure we sit down with the parents we have left and listen.  

Great story !

kinda dusty in here again.

My dad almost made it to 82 before passing.  

I used to spend hours hashing our history together. Cars, food and always Portillo’s Beef, along all the family that was gone.  

Three months towards the end of his life at Easter I got him telling everyone all the stories he and I knew but the younger siblings had never heard.  He had a blast.  

The best is a group of 18-19 years old buddies and my dad went fishing in Wisconsin and one guy borrowed a tackle box and put it behind the back tire for safe keeping only to have the driver back over it and flatten it.  He said it was hilarious and 63 years later my dad was laughing so hard he laid an egg.  

I miss talking to him.  

I've learned to shut up and listen when my elders start telling stories. My mother (aged 88) has always been good about sharing stories from her youth, but I thought I had heard them all by now.  I have a cousin who was put up for adoption as an infant and grew up in Denmark. She just found us again two years ago, and unfortunately only got to spend a week with her mother. Just before her second visit her mom passed away, so she got to fly over for a funeral instead of a second visit. After the funeral my cousin was sitting with my mother and listening to stories . My grandmother died in 1937, leaving my grandfather alone to raise 9 kids aged 11 or less. My mom was only eight at the time. All of this I knew from many years ago, but Mom starting telling my cousin about the night my grandmother died, a story I had never heard before. I was close to tears by the time she was done, but I now better understand the emotional stress she and my aunts and uncles went through as children. Had I walked away thinking it was a story I had already heard I wouldn't understand as well. Sitting and listening is so worthwhile.  

Thanks for sharing, Paul. Great story.

It got dusty in here fast. 

Must have been from running the heat for the first time. 

Thank you for reminding that people are the most important thing in life. 

I taped my grandmother telling her stories - good to watch.  She was born in 1910 and always talked about the Indians living north of Chicago when she was a little girl.  Nobody ever figured out what she was talking about but she mentioned it all her life    

Was there Native Americans living in Illinois in 1916 near Chicago?   

"I've loved you for ninety-one years" we all can only hope and pray that this  statement will be true for us and those we truly care for...