A grandmother is a mother who has a second chance

Saturday, February 3, 2007

In the beginning

My daughter made me do it! She has had a blog for a year (Four More Feet) - she began it when she came home with the two incredible children she adopted in Russia. They call me "Babushka" which is Russian for grandmother. Growing up in an Italian family (hence the title of my blog!!), I always thought a babushka was a scarf old ladies wore. Turns out it also means an elderly Russian woman. So, I guess that's me! Definitely not Russian, and certainly don't feel "elderly", but no sweeter words were ever spoken than those coming from the mouths of Vika and Eamon when they call me "Babushka"!

The main reason I wanted to start a blog is to try to capture stories of my family, and my life to pass on to my kids and grandkids. My mother-in-law died recently and during the course of the funeral, there were so many great family stories told. I had only known her for the past 7 years, and I found myself wishing I had known her in her younger days. It made me realize how much we miss when we don't talk to the "old people" in the family. They have so many rich things to tell us - it's our history - and yet we often don't want to bother to listen or to ask questions.

My dad is in a nursing home and last summer I found a book called "To Our Children's Children" which is a list of questions that guide a person to relay their stories for their descendants. I took the book and my laptop to the nursing home, asked Dad the questions, and typed the answers. There were some things he was telling me that made him laugh so hard he couldn't talk! I hadn't heard him laugh like that for such a long time. So now I have some of his memories on my computer and this blog will help me share those with the rest of my family and with future generations.

7 comments:

Jenni said...

Welcome to blog land Mom!

Arlene said...

Welcome :-)
I would love to hear stories from your dad! My uncle recently passed from Alzheimers, and I wish one of us would have thought to write down his stories! If you're interested, my tribute to him is listed in my sidebar.
See you soon :-)

Catheroo said...

Welcome to the blogosphere! I'm looking forward to reading your stories, especially the ones that embarrass Jenni :-)

kate said...

Welcome, Jenni's mom and V&E's babushka, to blogland!

I gave my grandparents books years ago called, "Tell Me Your Stories". It had a question each day for a year. I don't think any of them actually used it, but I'm REALLY hoping they did. My grandfather recently died and I only have one grandparent left. My favourite stories of all when I was little were about what her life was like when she was a little girl.

Now, I make my second graders keep "grandchildren journals" about all the little things we do in school so they can tell THEIR grandchildren.

Yeah So said...

Welcome! What a great idea. I think I'll search out that book, it sounds like the perfect thing to get those conversations started.

Jennefer said...

How cool to join your daughter in blog land! I hope you enjoy it!

Joe said...

Hey old Bebushka. This is old Dedushka. I knew your Dad would be rooting for the Bears so I was too, but I secretly wanted the Colts to win because Peyton used to be the U of Tennessee quarterback. I was happy you started this blog because I can get the grandmoms perspective and overview on what is going on with my grandkids. See you soon.