Ideas. Questions. Free writing. Week one.

When I say the word "age" what do you think of? I asked many this and most said "old people" or "older generation", for me when I think of age I think of growing up. Starting out as a baby, to a toddler, a young child, a crazy mood swinging teenager, to become and adult, then growing old. But I also think of all the bits in between like learning to talk - when did you start to talk? or what was your first word? (mine was dog), when did you start to walk? Did you fit right in school? Did you find it easy in school or hard? Did you find friends easily or did were you by yourself during the breaks? Did you get bullied? First kiss? First Job? First date? First relationship? First clubbing/drinking experience? Do you like fashion? Do you like to wear makeup? Do you care how you look? 

All these strange little question came in my mind and your experiences throughout life do they change the way you see yourself or have they helped you become who you are today? I would like to look more into what makes you as a person though personality and experiences that have an effect on you good or bad. 

Questions/Tasks

🔺Who can find the oldest person to interview?

🔺Story of your life in 7 words....

Curious, Giggly, Expressive, Determined, Bouncy, Hakuana Matata 

🔺What do you not want time to take away from you?..... Memory as I have seen 3 people who I love loose track of who they are. The same disease but in three very different ways. 

🔺Free writing about memory

Memory

Why worst fear is loosing my memory as I get older. I've seen loved ones cry and that hurts but it's worse to see your family member loose track of who they are and who they stand for when that person was someone who you looked up to and wanted to be. Someone you have fond memories with like making merangs, staying the night in a Winnie the Pooh bedding or creating forts out of he sofa. Now that's all just a memory. Now you look back and remember what they had become since loosing their memory. Yes some moments were distressing, coming back in the car in floods of tears thinking you felt awful for feeling this way. I remember the smell of the many care homes and the small room where a few pictures hang up on the wall of us as a family laughing before all this. Even though she never remembered us that didn't matter to me, all I wanted was for her to be happy and to not feel alone. There were positive happy times to these sad times like seeing her been given a chocolate and my sister and I watching it melt into the palm of her hand or her talking about tigers playing in the garden and saying that she used to put on short bread fingers on her hands when her hands were cold. Good days and bad, horrible days happened. The worst thing about seeing her like that was the effect it had on my family my dad lost his mom and my grandad lost the love of this life and 10 days my dad lost his dad too.

Writing this was hard, I was 5 when she started to loose her memory and lost her at 17. The progression was slow at first because we didn't know what exactly was going on. She started to forget how to make the tea and how to cook, she even started to forget her passion - playing piano. Music was the only thing that didn't leave her mind, she always knew exactly what piece of music was playing and even the composer who wrote it and knew what note was coming next. From my perspective loosing your memory, feeling disconnected from who you are and loosing track of who your family is, to me is the worst way to live out your life because their is no hope, no way of knowing how long it will last. On the other hand my other grandma who passed away last year died of the same thing, strange thing to me was that she could only remember her daughter and me. To this day I still don't know why she remembered just us but she was generally always kind of happy, colourful, giggly, she always wanted her nails done and joked about how she liked to have the "boob" (Michael Bublè) playing. My dads uncle was the funniest man I will ever know, he had dementia too but he would only and I mean only talk about his job, getting married and going to the war and being in the war and once he had finished the story he would start again and again and again. 

Grandma and Grandad were the best grandparents in the world, I always had fun with them no matter how old I was. I loved showing my grandad how to use a microwave and me trying to explain it in so many ways over and over again and him trying to work out what buttons to press and "What does the beeping mean" I remember him telling me. Do you remember trying to teach your grandad or grandma what a iPod was? "Back in my day I listened to the radio", "Where does it store all the music?" and "What's iTunes?". Do you have a type of food that reminds you of them? Did they have a chocolate sweetie cupboard in the kitchen? Do you remember what you used to watch with them? Do you remember something funny that they used to do or the way they did something? For your birthday did they used to get you the biggest card in store and now every birthday you remember massive cards from them? Did they have a catchphrase? Did they give you a nickname? What did you call your grandparents? 

Music that conveys emotion about memory

This piece of music shows everything I felt and feel about loosing your memory, watching someone  loose their thoughts and feelings, forgetting everything and the effects on the family and the aftermath. Please have a listen the words and sayings speak the truth - he's writing from experience on what he had gone though and how his family tried to come to terms with it.

"Afire Love"

Things were all good yesterday
And then the devil took your memory
And if you fell to your death today
I hope that heaven is your resting place
I heard the doctors put your chest in pain
But then that could've been the medicine
And now you're lying in the bed again
Either way I'll cry with the rest of them

And my father told me, son
It's not his fault he doesn't know your face
And you're not the only one
Although my grandma used to say
That he used to sing.

Darling, hold me in your arms the way you did last night
And we'll lie inside for a little while, here oh
I could look into your eyes until the sun comes up
And we're wrapped in light, in life, in love
Put your open lips on mine and slowly let them shut
For they're designed to be together, oh
With your body next to mine our hearts will beat as one
And we're set alight, we're afire love

Things were all good yesterday
But then the devil took your breath away
And now we're left here in the pain
Black suit, black tie, standing in the rain
And now my family is one again
Stapled together with the strangers and a friend
Came to my mind, I should paint it with a pen
Six years old, I remember when

My father told me, son
It's not his fault he doesn't know your face
And you're not the only one
Although my grandma used to say
He used to sing.

Darling, hold me in your arms the way you did last night
And we'll lie inside for a little while, here oh
I could look into your eyes until the sun comes up
And we're wrapped in light, in life, in love
Put your open lips on mine and slowly let them shut
For they're designed to be together, oh
With your body next to mine our hearts will beat as one
And we're set alight, we're afire love

To the love we love to love we love [3x]

And my father and all of my family rise from their seats to sing hallelujah
And my mother and all of my family rise from their seats to sing hallelujah
And my brother and all of my family rise from their seats to sing hallelujah
(And all of my brothers and my sisters, yeah)
And my father and all of my family rise from their seats to sing hallelujah

To the love we love to love we love [3x]

What questions do you want to ask the older generation?

▫️What was being 21 like in your day?

▫️What do you wish we have in this era that you would have liked to have when you were growing up?

▫️What is to you a daily chore?

▫️How do you see yourself?

▫️Who is your support group?

▫️What's you favourite snack/food?

I don't know about you but when I was little (still do) I used to say how much I loved my grandparents and looked up to them to their faces and they would say it back but now-er days do you hear what your grandparents think of you? 

▫️Do you have any grandchildren if so what do you think about them?

Some older people are lovely but sometimes are they all caught up in their own world and don't realise whats happening around them? Do they become selfish? Or more thoughtful and appreciative? Do they treasure their family? Or do they expect them to look after them and put them first?

Poem

WHAT IS A GRANDPARENT?

A hugger, a kisser, a grandchild misser

A laugher, a crafter, a fun looker-after

A trusted adviser, indulgent surpriser

A listening ear & a fair refereer

A carer, a sharer, a sometimes grey-hairer

A school gate collector, a ringer & texter

A crossword completer & roast dinner eater

A writer, delighter, a stay the nighter

A traveller, talker & leisurely walker

A best friend & mentor, a clever inventor

A ‘what-do-you-sayer?’ & board game player

A generous payer & photo displayer

A newspaper reader, an ‘oh yes indeeder’

A godsend to mother, a garden lover

A debater, relater, a cold weather hater

A picker-upper, a pop round for supper

A thinker, a winker, a cup of tea drinker

A mender, a sender, a coaxer & lender

A free taxi driver & slipper of fiver

A pleaser, a teaser, affectionate squeezer

That’s what makes a grandparent!

Poem Charlotte and I translated into text and emoji form: teenage style






C- Yo fvs

A- ✌️🍑😜😏

C- Ily 4EAE jk 

A- 🆓2⃣🌅

C- jsyk iu2u r u 3 tmrw

A- 💩👤💪🙋

C- Jw fwb 

A- 💋🔥💦💧😉👌

C- xx afa ik ily

A- 🙊👀💋🍌🍩

C- omg iwu 

Videos

This is the one to watch! Please watch! Best reactions! Elders react to "The Fox"

Elders react to Eminem

This came out today/yesterday: Parents talking to their kids about sex, some of them know more than you think. Watch how both adults and kids react to what each other is saying.