As you get older do you think more about the past?

It will be a big project if I start to trace my ancestors. My grandfathers and grandmothers came from China. My grandfather (from father side) had two wives. One wife in China with a daughter. When he came to Singapore, he married my grandmother. My grandmother also had two husbands. The first husband passed away, then she married my grandfather. From my mother side, I do not know anything about my grandfather. He passed away when my mother was young. My grandmother had a few kids. They were very poor and my grandmother had to sell away two kids. I heard that one child was sold to a Malay family. I wonder how to trace this kind of super messy ancestors!

I think that is wonderful that you are doing a book about your grandfather. That will be a nice tribute and I am sure he will have wonderful tales to tell. Wouldn't that go against the fact once you know you don't need to look back? I think photographs are wonderful. My grandfather always had a camera in his hand. He's 86 years old. The last two years were bad for him. Age finally caught up to him. I hope he keeps his great spirit.

I have done a lot of genealogical work and journals, letters, spectacles, photgraphs hold a special magic. My grandfather loves to talk and I am about to start recording him and see if I can organize some of his stories into a book. Knowing where you come from is important to knowing who you are. Losing sosmeone early on creates a gap that is difficult to fill. There are so many questions you never have the opportunity to ask and you can't always rely on the memory of everyone else. As long as you don't live in the past there is nothing wrong with looking back. The original question was "As you get older do you think more about the past?" As I said below as I get older I think less about it. That is because I thought about it in my past more than enough before now.

I believe as time goes on and society changes, being away from family makes journals more needed and less wanted. As far as the journals I meant how you and your family were as you grew up. Maybe just parents and siblings not cousins and extended people.

oh... i dont know... i have only my mom when i was growing up, and years later my little sisters came and lived with us. maybe its one reason i am not interested in making any family journal...

You're a teacher and you're supposed to know that in order to not make the same mistakes of the past we have to learn history. LOL I look to the future as well but mostly I live in the now. I also look at the past to see where we can change the future. We've made a lot of mistakes, mostly timing, but still we can see where we went wrong and hope not to do it again. Change is good.

You shouldn't have to "keep" looking back if you can remember everything you've done wrong and the exact details of how you or your ancestor changed the situation. I don't think you should keep looking back but it is nice to remember once in awhile.

You keep saying that. I am an artist who teaches part time, at least in the classroom. If you have to keep looking back to avoid mistakes you aren't learning anything.

I have memories of traveling as well, and they were so comedic and can be used as great warnings. I wouldn't want to tell anyone now because they would be scared to travel. LOL