Where we come from

I grew up living in a house with a very old man. I consider myself very lucky. My maternal grandfather was born in 1906 and even if he (for sure!) had his own ideas about certain things (...men with long hair, for example...) he did give some very valuable perspective on things. I got to read his magazines, stuff like the German `Stern` that could have semi-nude broads featured on the cover. My mother said she used to draw bikinis on them as a girl :) We would play cards with him and his friends, even if they were 70+ and I was 10 it was fine. I would watch him do yoga and "airbathe" in the backyard because   that´s the kind of stuff what he believed would be good for the body, -sauna, honey and raw garlic. He had been in the war but never talked about it. He was very much in favor of new things, new technology and I remember him once saying that progress can´t and should not be stopped. I´m sure he had a lot of stuff on his mind that he never talked about, I think he was quite stubborn and must have been a child of his own times in more ways than one. Finland was a very different place when he was a kid.
But I remember a warm, eccentric and funny old man who always had time for me. Knowing him has for sure been a par of he things that made me the woman I am today.
If you are lucky enough to have elderly people in your family or around you take time to sit down and talk with them. They were not always old and wrinkly and I bet my tail feathers they have some very cool stories to tell you. I know some awesome 20-year-olds that have been around the block more than most, so wisdom does not always come with age but in most cases it sure does help.

My granddad, sitting in the chair. Handsome fellow, would you not say?