The Passing of Wisdom

This morning, my great Aunt Pauline passed away at age 95. She was my grandmothers sister, and the last person of my grandmothers generation to pass. She was my oldest living relative of course. I was lucky enough to be able to take my son to meet her in January when I was visiting my family out east. It hit me really hard to hear of this because she was the last connection to that generation in our family. I remember being a little girl and sitting around the kitchen table with her and hearing stories of their youth and their lives. It has always been amazing to me what that generation got to see in their life times. Imagine being born in 1916.. before we had the technology we have today.. living through the great depression, and both World Wars.. the 60's...the cold war... and getting to see the changes that we see today. She was also the first generation of our family to be born in this country, as my great grandparents immigrated from Italy before they were born. The wisdom that has passed today is something that is such a huge loss to our families...no longer will we get to hear stories of the youth of my grandmother and her family... I hope every person out there today takes time to honor those that have lived such great long lives, and touched so many people.