justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

“What was your favorite toy, grandpa?”

This was one of the 32 questions I was asked by my youngest grandson, Gavin, as he was interviewing me for a 2^nd grade school project. As Gavin ran through the 31 other questions, I was struck by the challenge of responding in a way that would make sense to someone 68 years younger than me.

My world was incredibly different from most of anything a child of the present day would recognize. I was careful to not preface my answers with “when I was your age”, which wouldn’t at all be helpful to Gavin’s understanding of the life of a veteran of the Depression, or tradition generation: I could find no words to help bridge the gap between then and now.

Questions about pets, school, clothes, food, family, holidays, houses, entertainment, and the aforementioned toys generated one or two word answers. I was also wondering how the teacher – a professional from the final years of Generation Y – would help Gavin and his classmates process the information. Whenever I hear about life before my time, I’m not sure I can paint a picture of what someone older than me was describing – much like the challenge Gavin’s teacher faces in helping her students relate to my remembrances.

Along with the joys and pleasures of continuing into my seventh decade – or my “last quarter” as I’ve labeled it – I’ve been careful to couch my observations and remembrances in terms that will help provide perspective while not preaching and help Gavin get to know his grandpa a little better. (I love the nickname my seven grandchildren have given me – “Goofy Grandpa”.)

“When I was your age” was long ago banished from my vocabulary, which helps me as I presently teach 70 community college students who inhabit a world far different than I could have ever imagined. From time to time, it’s been tempting to make comments that could be interpreted as judgmental: expressing frustration that “things used to be like…”, or “you can’t imagine what things were like…”, but I’ve been able to stay calm and have not made comments that would not be in any way helpful or positive in establishing and maintaining a healthy and productive learning environment.