Jesse, how is it we are old enough for 20 year college reunions? Also, no worries I'll keep looking for college stuff.

Our shower is broken. We only have one bathroom in the house, so things are..... unpleasant. Someone is coming to fix it this afternoon, and I have never been so excited to take a shower in my life.

My grandfather somehow managed to enlist (he was born in 1901), and given that he had five children under 10, was already in his late 30s (Canada having entered the war long before the US), they just sent him to Victoria. No overseas service for him! I'm not entirely sure why he bothered enlisting, though my mother claims it's because he thought it would get him back to Scotland.

My step-grandfather on the other side (who was in Scotland, as that's where he started out) was in Europe, and the shrapnel in his knee ultimately led to his death (surgery + painkillers = bleeding ulcer). All he ever talked about was shit he got up to on leave, however. (Which was a lot, as he was very young--turned 18 in 1942 [Gram kind of cradle robbed with him]--and filled with wild oats.)

I had no real relationship with any of the other vets in the family, as my bio grandfathers all fell into age ranges where they missed the war windows--too young in some cases for WWI, barely, too old for WWII.

Jesse, how is it we are old enough for 20 year college reunions?

I know, right? It's ridiculous.

I so wish I'd known to ask for stories. Daddy was 21 in 1940 and good-looking young man. Such a man in uniform in New York is a Broadway musical waiting to happen. But he died when I was in college and still getting my head around the potential of history.

Last year was my 30th college reunion. I've never been to a reunion.

My high school 10-year reunion was this past summer, and I was conveniently out of the continent. I can't even imagine going to one.

I have very much enjoyed all of the reunions I've been to! It's fun (IME) to see how people grow up.

I went to my 10y high school reunion, missed my 20th, and never heard anything about the 30th, which is sad because I really did want to catch up on people.

I never knew my maternal grandfather, he died less than a year before I was born. I never got to hear the stories. But after my mom died and I was going through her things, I found a fantastic letter that my grandmother had written her on VE day (I think). My mom was born in 1940. Anyway, the letter was all about the loud noises, people honking and that this was her lullaby that night, but it meant that Dad would be coming home soon. I need to refind that latter.

I also found a BUNCH of his military paperwork. I haven't gone through it yet, was so overwhelmed dealing with mom that I just kinda cataloged what I found without really lookin at every bit.