This photo probably was taken in 1907, as the youngest child (my grandmother, Isabel) was born in early 1905. That's her sister Margaret on the left, their mom, Rena, and brother Eli Frank, Jr.  

Starting when our kids were born I felt a new understanding of my own parents and their parents and even the great-grandparents I never knew, because I realized that these people who always had seemed to me like such experts on life were probably just making it up as they went along, too. 

Comments

[Fec]

During the 60s, Dr. Benjamin Spock offered a lot of real advice on parenting, although I'm not sure it was to good effect.

[Ed Cone]

As Mike Tyson said, everyone has a plan until they get punched.

My awakening to the fact that every generation and every wise elder is winging it to some extent was child-driven, but it's not child-exclusive, and I expect a lot of people figure it out about their own families along the way.

Work, for example. When I was in my early 20s my grandfather Cone advised me not to marry too early, or to spend my entire career at one job. This was a guy who had a long and seemingly successful marriage to his grade-school sweetheart, and a long and successful career at one place. That fascinated me. My own father talked about his decisions to specialize as an MD, and to practice in GSO instead of a teaching hospital or urban center, all of which has deeper meaning for me at 50 than it did at 22, when it was in some ways more relevant. And so on.

[Steve Harrison]

I prefer the other Spock's take on children:

"They remind me of the lilies of the field. They toil not, neither do they spin. But they seem to eat a great deal. I see no practical use for them."

[TBill Yaner]

Your rich family history, Ed, will continue to reverberate and bless you over many more years as the "Aha!" moments keep rolling in unannounced. Sure they were winging it, just like us. But what will blow you away are the times they got it dead on right.

That's your heritage.