This past weekend was the 40th anniversary of Woodstock and my Saturday morning tweet read - This Sat 40 years ago I was 15 and driving through Cape Cod with parents listening to Woodstock news reports on car radio.
It only took that 123 character post and the fact that it was a grey and rainy Saturday to leave me with a mantle of sadness; as my mind went back to the August weekend in one of my favorite places, shared with two people that I still miss today. Unlike many writers who like to present themselves as having risen from the dregs of dreadful childhoods, I had a good relationship with my parents. On the surface they may have been stereotypical of the distant English parents; in private they were supportive and loving giving me little fodder for even a mild case of teenage angst.
That evening Chris and I ate pasta, drank wine and caught up on the conversations that we didn’t have time for in the week. We then watched the movie Defiance. I had originally wanted to rent it because it starred Daniel Craig, who is on my short list of men I would have an affair with but the story proved to be so much more than I expected.
It is a World War II movie that looks at the Holocaust from a unique perspective. Telling the true story of a group of Jews in Eastern Europe who fought back from there home deep in the forest and the Bielski brothers who led them. While not a perfect movie the story itself is remarkable.
Saturday ended with me thinking that the type of person we become is not only the result of the family we are born into but also the time in history. For me is was about being a teenager growing up in the sixties. One thing I realized is that I want to start having the right conversations and asking the pertinent questions. From the hindsight of the person that I am today what talks I would have with my parents!
Relationships must be so much more than mere everyday words. Remember that a really sick friend is not just her disease; part of her still wants to talk about clothes, grumble about her husband and laugh over the funny parts of 30 Rock. Realizing that a grumpy co-worker or colleague might be troubled by something in her life and responding accordingly. It’s about asking parents and grandparents to share the early years of their lives and seeing how they intertwined with the events of the time.
And ultimately never forgetting that everyone has a story.
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I love this blog and the sentiment that goes with it! People’s stories are so very interesting.
Daniel Craig’s on your short list, eh? Hhmmmm…)
I also often wish I’d been a teenager in the 60s as I feel sometimes that I was born too late. Then again, maybe it’s just that I often yearn for a simpler time in the world: before computers took over our every waking minute, when the news wasn’t all bad, the economy wasn’t a disaster, we didn’t have to work 3 jobs to survive, and we actually had time to talk to the people we cared about at length and really hear their stories.
i couldn’t agree more there is nothing better than a really good conversation. The exchange of ideas, opinions and experiences.
Bet that Daniel Craig would be interesting to talk too!