I love these sorts of connections to history.
About 30 years ago I read a book that went day by day through the year, listing who had died on that date. Sometime in the 1940's (I didn't write it down, so I don't recall the specifics) the last actual Daughter of the American Revolution died. She was about 100. Her father had served in the Revolution, and she was a child of his elderhood. Wow. Someone whose *father* fought in the Revolution lived into the middle of the 20th century. How amazing is that.
I was on the Mall in DC on July 4, 1976. It was wonderful. My (now ex) husband was there also, although we didn't meet for about three more years. We have two grown sons, and since there is decent longevity on both sides, I recently did the math, and realized they have a very good chance of making it to the Tricentennial. The oldest would be 94, the younger a mere 89. Piece of cake. I have told them that if they are alive in 2076, they need to go to the Mall for the Tricentennial and tell every single person they meet that their parents were there one hundred years ago. How cool is that? Just imagine, being somewhere and having some old person tell you such a thing.
In a similar vein our oldest son was about three when Haley's comet passed through last time. About a week later we were having dinner with relatives, including an elderly uncle. I prompted my son to tell the uncle that he'd seen the comet, and the uncle said, as I hoped he would, "When I was your age I saw Haley's comet the last time around."
We often forget that it is somewhat easy, although it takes a small amount of digging, to find such connections. In some ways we are closer to the past than we know.
Photography has changed things enormously. To think that we can see actual photographs of men who fought in our Revolution. Centuries from now people will be looking at video of the moon landing with utter fascination. I recall in 1992, someone on NPR commenting that if we had film of Columbus's voyage, we'd still be looking at it today. How true.
Sometimes when I simply watch old movies, I'm enthralled by that link to the past.
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