Tuesday, December 03, 2013

The interview(s)

Miss Kat interviewed my Dad last night.  She's writing a paper for her Comp class and it's a biography about someone she knows.

Initially, she interviewed Kev, but she told us he was too boring.  I say she interviewed Kev, but...well, here's a wee bit of how their interview went.

Miss K:  "Where were you born?"

Kev:  "I was born in Akron, Ohio.  I think."  He turned to me and said, "I was born in Akron, right?"

Me:  "Yes, you were born in Akron."

Later...

Miss K:  "When did you get married for the first time?"

Kev:  "I married L. in..."  Turning to me again, he said, "When did L and I get married?"

Me:  "1984"

Kev:  "Yeah, 1984 and we were married for..." again, he turned to me and asked, "How long were we married?"

Me:  "Four years dear."

Kev:  "That's right."

Miss Kat thought that maybe she should interview ME about her father's life since I seemed to know the details!

So, she decided that maybe she should interview someone else.  Kev suggested my Dad, so we made arrangements to have Mom and Dad come up last night for supper and Kat could interview him.

Most of what he told her I knew, and had heard before, but he did share some stories I hadn't heard and some details to stories I knew but not to the extent he shared.  It was fun!

It was also interesting to see Kat's reactions to some facts that I just took for granted.  Both of my parents were born at home.  To me, it's a fact, not anything special...but to Miss Kat, it was a little exotic.  My parents remember when they got electricity and indoor plumbing.  Dad went to a one-room country school. Horses were his toys.

All things I just took for granted that are special and unique.  Not just Dad's story, but Mom's too!

Mom was so proud that Dad didn't have to ask her when they got married, he actually knew!  We did argue about when he broke his leg once, but decided that maybe it really was in late 1979...maybe...we're still in debate about that one.

I've always been one to ask my elders questions.  I used to ask all my grandparents for stories.  Listening to Kat and Dad last night, I realized that those conversations should happen more often between grandparents and grandchildren.  I'm glad it happened in our house last night.