Favorite Story

Unfortunately I am not able to give any example of a favorite story from an elderly person. The only elderly people I had contact with through out my life were my maternal grandparents. They were both immigrants from Estonia. I can only remember them talking about a very few things from their lives growing up and early adulthood. I remember my grandfather "Papi" Kaarel Kaes talking about being a cook for the Army (?)Navy during the Korean War. I remember him talking about peeling hundreds of potatoes. My grandmother "Grama" Emilie Kaes told me how she remembered walking to school in the winter time, when it had snowed so much she would be level to fence tops. I know life was hard in Estonia back in the 1920's when they were both living there. My mother told me that my grama had an uncle who starved to death in Estonia. Papi was always more interested in hearing stories from my brother and I, than he was in telling them to us. Every single time we would go to his house, he would have us come sit near him, smile so big it reached his sparkling blue eyes and heartily say, "Tell me all about it." That is one of my fondest memories of Papi, the fact that he cared about the trivial goings on in our young lives. I miss him very much. He died when Reina was a little younger than 2 years old, so unfortunately she doesn't remember him, which is such a shame...he was wonderful.