If you could bring back a family member for a day ....

It would be Grandpa Paul, he was my step-grandpa on my mom's side, but the only real grandpa that I knew. He was such a wonderful funny man. As far as he was concerned we were his real grand kids and he spoiled us as such.

He was also a prankster. He didn't want any of us kids in the basement when we were little because he had power tools in there so he convinced us that there were alligators in there...This was in northern California...no alligators here! To this day, I still am nervous about basements!!!

I would just love to have him see my children and how well they are doing and just to get a wonderful grandpa hug from him again.

I don't think I could bring back a family member I have known, it would be too painful to say goodbye again. I have occasional dreams about my Mom (cancer, age 52) and my brother (car crash, age 28) both of these happened 20+ years ago and in the dreams I know they are gone, and I only have a small amount of time to talk with them before they leave again. It leaves me feeling drained when I wake up, I want to keep them here, but of course that cannot happen.
If I did get to bring people back, it would be the Grandparents I never got to meet. Both my Grandfathers and my paternal Grandmother died before I was born. I have heard so many stories about them, not all good, not all bad, would like to sit down and talk with them, find out what made them tick, their thoughts and feelings.

Thank you all so much for sharing with me, it is nice to know I'm not alone in thinking about a family memeber that's gone. When things get difficult I often think of my grandfather. It would just be nice to know what he would say to me right now.

My great gramma.

I don't have many regrets in my life, but this is one of em.

You know how people get busy? And say, "I'll visit next weekend" then it becomes the weekend after, etc etc.

My great granny only lived bout 25-30mins drive away. At the time, I was not driving, it was my mom and I saying we'll go see her.... and something always came up.. We didn't make the time to go visit her. We weren't overly close, as in, we didn't see each other often...but when we did, it was wonderful.

I had had my youngest daughter....5 generations. And we were going to go visit so she could meet her other new great grand daughter. But we procrastinated.

My daughter meet her, at her funeral, when she was between 1-2mos old

If I may, I'd like to tell you a bit about GG and how she died.

She was in her late 80's, lived out in the country and had just gotten a new puppy. Yup, you read it right, a PUPPY. GG farmed chickens n' rabbits, did all the work herself....all the yardwork, everything. She was an independant spunky woman which is why I loved her so.

She was outside playing with her puppy (mixed large breed) when she fell. She broke her hip and was laying on the ground outside with no help, no cordless phone, nada. This remarkable woman managed to drag herself back to the house, up the 6-8 steps to get on the porch, into the house, up a couple more steps to finally get to her old style phone where she called for help.

2 days later in hospital, she had a stroke...then a heart attack. She couldn't handle the trauma of the broken hip.

It is a pleasant memory to know she was out playing with her puppy the day that ultimately her life ended

ETA: I would bring her back so she could meet my youngest daughter, and I could say my goodbyes.

my father.

Originally Posted by AbbysMom

my father.

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Me too. My dad died five years ago, and I still miss him terribly.

It would be my mom. She had a huge love of cats, that is where I get it from. Sadly, she passed away before I had my big cats in my life. There is nothing I would love to see more, than my mom experiencing the love and purrs of our bobcats and cougar

My paternal Grandma. But not right away... I'd want her to come back the day after I have my first child.

Originally Posted by mbjerkness

I would bring back my Dad. He died when I was 17. I have always wondered if he would be proud of me. Silly I know.

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ABSOLUTELY NOT SILLY! I am sure he would be proud.

I would want my Mom's dad. He was a war veteran in WWII and was on the front lines of some major battles in France as my sister has found out recently. I can't even imagine it! He never knew my Mom had children, he died when she was 3 months along with my older sister and she hadn't told anyone yet (she was very young) He seems like he was an amazing person, I feel very connected to him although we don't have many family stories about him. We have alot of letters he wrote to his sister during the war though. He was a funny guy, very dry sense of humor. I would love to get to know him, I have alot of questions.

2 for me...

My Grandfather and Grandmother on my Dad's side. Grandmother had died 3 months before I was born in 1968. Dad had mentioned how excited she was for my coming. Granddad died in 1993, just as I was getting into Genealogy. I'd love to be able to hear the stories of his growing up. Living through the Depression, hopping train cars, etc. He lived a fairly exciting life. He married my Grandmother 2 times!! They were married, got divorced, then married again some years later!

My Grandad or my great granny!! Both shared my love of felines and my Grandad (like my Nana) was an international cat judge