Summer is winding down.  Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with two carloads of preteens at Lava.  They have more energy than they can use and more than I can keep up with.  So, I sat on a lawn chair and watched the action.  I had the food, so they checked in regularly.  Today, I’m at the Oneida Pioneer Museum.  It’s a little more my speed; calm, cool and quiet.  Life is full of contrasts.

While at the Museum, four patrons from the Griff Davis Family came in.  I called their cousin Annette, and she came down to say hi.  They enjoyed wandering around, looking at the antiques and visiting with one another.  The tranquility got me thinking about the contrasting atmosphere with the third graders in May.  They come at the end of the school year and only want to hear about Old Eph and Gerald’s Fish.  They barely keep the energy under wraps while they listen to the stories.  

Dean, one of the visitors, told me one of his grandchildren didn’t know what a telephone was.  We started talking about the importance of history and he went on to say their neighborhood put up flags on D-Day and even his own children didn’t understand what that meant.  I told him how emotional I got just watching the Olympic Gold Medalists stand on the podium and sing the Star-Spangled Banner.  The last words, “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” always bring tears.  I never served in the military, but I do understand it took a lot of sacrifice to create this country.  We talked about our responsibility to pass that to future generations.  

So, kids love swimming, biking, running, hiking and just moving.  We grandparents generally like sitting, visiting, eating, puttering and telling stories.  Contrasts!  Grandparents, let’s work on passing down some of the stories we hold dear.  Maybe even some of our ancestors’ stories.  If you are at a loss for a story, come to the museum, bring a grandkid and find something they don’t have a clue about.  An old phone, an oxen yoke, a bellows or something else can spark a conversation and help our children understand that life wasn’t always as it is now.  It took some work to create the “land of the free and the home of the brave” that they enjoy today.  

In hindsight, I should have brought those preteens to the museum before we went swimming and shone them the picture of the 1920 swimmers.  It’s on the organ behind the stairs.  Talk about contrasts in swimming attire, and yet the smiles in the picture matched the girls’ faces while swimming and sliding at Lava.  The 1920s to 2024 all enjoying the Good Life!