This is a spin off from Hatterasguys' thread on "I didn't know these guys were still around." Please, take the opportunity to sit down with your children and tell them about the significant points in your life, even if you don't think they want to hear them and you might get the "eye roll." Someday it will be important to them. Case in point: My dad flew with Lindberg, which I believe to be a fairly significant achievment and he never mentioned it, never talked about it. This was discovered after my dad died and we came across a book Lindberg wrote and autographed for my dad. It mentions working on an O2 gauge problem with my dad on a B24.

Given the ease with which documents can be produced nowadays, I think it's a good idea to encourage our parents to write autobiographies. It's very surprising that results come about when you ask an older person about the importance of life's events to them. On the occasion of my father-in-law's 81st birthday, I asked him to recount some significant events of his childhood. His first recollection was of how he failed the 11+ exam and that the order of students in his grade school class was always determined from smartest to dumbest. Once he failed the exam, and the 'smart' kids moved on, he moved up in the social hierarchy of the classroom.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

i can tell you when i tell my kids about the days i lived in ill have to tell them how there dad uses to dumpster dive for veggie oil and had all of these zany adventures and how he is still obsessive compulsive

Least your not a quitter

I'm dying to hear some of my grampas stories... He was on the beaches on D-Day, he drove truck for years because he was pissed at his dad.

He put new rings in a 20's Model t, during the late 30s... He was from a small town, and the sherif was still on a hourse. During the "test run" he ran from the cop, and got it on 2 wheels.

Wish I knew more about that story.. I really do, because that might explain some things


Share stories with your kids, PLEASE

Allthough we might not seem like we're listening, we remember
~Nate

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95 Honda Shadow ACE 1100.
1999 Plymouth Neon Expresso. 2.4 swap, 10.5 to 1 comp, big cams. Autocross time attack vehicle!
2012 Escape, 'hunter" (5 sp 4cyl)

My paternal grandfather was a cavalry officer before WWI with Pershing during the incursion into MX. Later he was with Pershing in Europe. Paternal grandmother grew-up in a ranch family of 12 in TX. Her uncle and father were soldiers in the confederacy. Her uncle lost his arm at Antietam and stayed on until Lee's surrender. They were of lowland Scots and English ancestry.

My maternal grandmother was sexually abused by her uncle and carried that stigma s a personal failure on her part until she died at age 103. My maternal grandfather was a conductor on Penn Central. He loved western stories, though never crossed the Mississippi. They were of highland Scots and Alsatian ancestry.

My mother, retired archivist and active genealogist, has traced ancestors on both sides back to: 17th century landed gentry and peasants. One was exiled as a reaver--stealing livestock along the borderlands in England. Another was a soldier. The women are essentially non-entities until the 18th century.

Some of the best stories I have ever heard are the one's told by my dad about growing up on the farm. Switching over from steam power to diesel power for the wheat mill/sawmill. Using acetylene gas lights in the house. The farmhands telling him when he was seven or eight to study hard or he would end up like them. Rationing of fuel and supplies due to the war. Breaking his leg when he laid his motorcycle down and shifting with his hand as he rode twenty miles to the doctor. Racing the local cops (all were on bikes) to the bar so the loser could buy drinks. People who rode their horse to the bar, and if they got a ride from someone, the horse would know how to get home by himself. Awesome.

My mom wears combat boots.