"Simple Living" - Chapters 79 and 80

[Jundo]

Just jump in if joining, no "catch up" ... just today is today ...

I will include chapter headings, as we discovered some differences between the US and UK editions regarding chapter order.

Chapter 79 - Find Occasions To Get Together With Family - Well, we may have to ZOOM or FaceTime these days! However, this is also a great time to online "share a meal" or tea with some "long lost" relatives and catch up. Everyone brings their own food or beverage, by the way, but set up the camera as if sharing the same table ... and set aside an hour at least ... and really talk to them, catch up, find out how they are doing. Share some memories. Do it with some folks you have not spoken with in a long, long time.

Chapter 80 - Appreciate All The People ... Before You - As a part of the above conversations, try to share information on what each person recalls about family "roots" ... great-grand parents' names, countries of origin, unusual stories about the family "in the old days." Take notes. At the end of the conversation, give the ancestors a little bow.

Gassho, J

STLah

[Amelia]

We've been having family dinner much more often than we did before. I live with my grandmother and since she can't go out at all, she occupies herself with cooking. It's been nice. I don't know of any relatives that would be interested in Skypeing, but my dad just figured out WhatsApp so we have been having the occasional video call.

I will start taking notes whenever I hang out or speak with family from now on. It is a worthy project, and I've been keeping journals. There are so many snippets that you think you'll remember but you end up forgetting, or embellishing.

Gassho
Sat today, lah

[Jundo]

We've been having family dinner much more often than we did before. I live with my grandmother and since she can't go out at all, she occupies herself with cooking. It's been nice. I don't know of any relatives that would be interested in Skypeing, but my dad just figured out WhatsApp so we have been having the occasional video call.

I will start taking notes whenever I hang out or speak with family from now on. It is a worthy project, and I've been keeping journals. There are so many snippets that you think you'll remember but you end up forgetting, or embellishing.

Gassho
Sat today, lah

I mentioned this too recently, which is a project still possible with Zoom and such ...

Here is one thing I did while my mother was still alive, and I highly recommend to everyone. I wish I had been able to do it with my father before he left this visible world.

I recorded about 8 hours of "60 Minutes" (I think our folks out USA know what I mean) like interviews with questions such as "Tell us about your hardest time" and "Tell us a secret we don't know" and "What advice would you give your grandkids in their twenties" (our son was still a toddler), etc.

At first she said, "Oh, I could never talk much" ... then she filled 8 hours!

Many of the stories, of course, I had heard 1000 times ... but many things I never heard before! Also a couple of "family secrets" (not too serious, but very poignant).

Maybe, with all this time at home, we will rewatch the video now that the kids are older. Our daughter never met her.

Gassho, J

STLah