About a year before my father died, my sons and I were visiting my parents in Florida. Jeff and Jer admired my dad and all he had achieved. The old Marine was, in many respects, their hero, and they were excited to interview Granddad about his life. They set up a video camera and began asking gentle questions, beginning with his growing-up years.

Dad humored them for a little while. Then, with weariness, he said something like, “No one wants to know about an old man’s life. Put that thing away.”

I remember feeling deeply disappointed. We had come ready to ask the questions, but we had waited too long. Dad was dying, and he knew it. He wasn’t interested in revisiting his successes and failures anymore. He had already lived those chapters. His thoughts were no longer on the past but on what lay ahead.

And when he died, the stories went with him.

Every family has stories like these – stories that disappear unless someone is willing to ask the questions.

That experience is one of the main reasons I pressed my mother with questions during the final weeks of her life. My mother was dying. Time ends. Lives pass.

If you have questions for the elders in your life, ask them now while they’re still willing to answer. Don’t assume there will always be another holiday, another visit, or another conversation.

And if you’re the one with the stories, consider writing them down. You may think no one cares about the details of your life. My father believed that.

He was wrong.

One day, someone you love will wish they had asked one more question, and they will treasure every story you leave behind.

Is there one story from your parents or grandparents that you’re grateful you heard? Or are you like us? Is there something you wish you had asked before it was too late?