When We Become the Olden Days

My blog had very little traffic until I discovered meme's sometime last year. Even though my blog now gets more hits and the current posts get more comments because of the memes. I doubt that very many of my readers have ever dug into my older post. So I am going to occasionally resurrect some of my older writings to give them a second chance.

Last week one of my southern cousins and his wife came for a visit. Over dinner one evening my cousin mentioned that he felt as if he had become "the olden days." I certainly understood his meaning, for his words rang a bell with me. One of the first posts I made when I started blogging four years ago was on that very subject. I have updated it here.

When We Become the Olden Days--- first posted on November 16, 2005

It seems like only yesterday when family gatherings on my Dad's side of the family were filled with Great Aunts and Uncles and even a few Great Greats at whose feet all of us would gather, to hear the stories they told about their "good old days". Suddenly, I realized they were all gone and it was our parents who had become the "old ones" enthralling the children with their tales of the "good old days".

Then one day, I was struck by the fact that we cousins are rapidly becoming the oldest members of our clan. My Mother and my Dad's youngest brother (now 80) are the only oldsters left to tell the "good old days" stories.

Soon, way too soon, it will be our children replacing us as the matriarchs and patriarchs of our family.

I guess I have to question: first, if we are up to the responsibility of guiding our clan into the next generation, and second, what will all the young ones have to say about the world we left in their hands, to care for into the future.

It is very daunting. Just yesterday I was a kid at my grandfather’s knee and now I am a Matriarch of a family that goes well into the triple digits. It’s scary. When we become "the olden days" will our descendents remember us in a positive way? What kind of stories will we use to keep the kiddies at our feet enthralled? Better yet, what kind of stories will they have to tell about us when we are gone?