because they're thinking a lot about seeing them again
I wonder that too. I know she has a very long prayer list for the living, and I imagine keeps a log of those she would like to see on the other side. At 93, that is a long log. It is hard for me to imagine that after 82 years (she was 11 when her sister passed away) that you could remember someone very well. I suppose it depends on the person. Or maybe only the most poignant things stick like quick video images - an unusually shaped smile, or a particular smell. She seems to remember a lot about her though, and it is amazing.
No matter how heartbreaking it was for them at the time, they seem excited, in a sense, about something
Yes, even when there is sadness in the memory itself, they seem to feel no sadness in telling it. There is happiness in storytelling, for sure. I guess that's why I am doing it right now. It feels good to dwell on a moment in life, when life is so fleeting. I've got this one captured, and now it can't disappear into the past.
Their minds dealt with far fewer distractions and a lot more focus on the moment. People today are bombarded; sensory overload. Easy to lose the memories in all the chaos. We drive fast as everything zips past; they drove slow to enjoy the show. So yeah, it's good to take a moment for yourself; give yourself something to remember.
True. Stimulation. Everything new was a big deal to my grandmother's generation. There was so much that was shocking. Shocking is old hat to us.