Things you didn't really appreciate at the time.

Our garden when I was a child. It was a huge site and my dad cared for it beautifully. We had a formal lawn surrounded by flowers, then you could go through a rose archway to a large play area with a swing. To the side of that was a vegetable patch and orchard. Dad worked tirelessly. I didn't realise what hard work it must have been until I got a garden myself!

Yes Ninathenana, I had a good childhood but we were never told how clever or good we were but when we had displeased we knew it!

There are so many things I didn't appreciate enough at the time: being a student in Paris, being young, having loving, adoring parents( even if they hadn't a clue about what I was studying at university as they had only minimal education themselves or were later unable to fit into the family and world I had married into), having a besotted husband ( we married very young) and it is only now that I appreciate him, having four wonderful kids who filled my life but to whom, perhaps, I did not always show the full extent of my love for them. At the time, I was always too busy to look at each aspect of my life as blessings to be savoured. I worked too much and did not enjoy enough. I wish I had taken more time to "smell the flowers" then. But isn't that life, to some extent?

( This is my second post in two years, so perhaps appreciating the GN dialogues and taking part is an aspect of the more appreciative me? Sorry to be so philosophical!)

I also went to see the Beatles in my school uniform Coolgran 65. Bunked the day off school and had a great afternoon (matinee show).
Went home where i was asked the usual questions, How was School today?...... Dis you enjoy after school swimming etc. Suitable responses given by myself.

All was well until early evening when my Grandfather called my mother into the room where he was watching the six o clock news. There on the screen, right at the front was ....yep.. you've guessed it! Me and my school uniform oooops!

My grandparents. I have none left and it's devastating. As a kid you just think they will always be there, 14 years ago I found myself without a single grandparent left.. I would cherish every second with them.

my nans in particular (grandads in and out of our lives) have never met any of thier great grandchildren, never seen any of us grandchildren get married. Now at the age of 32, same age as my mum when she lost her mum, I'm starting to see just how fast life passes by

Stones - Hyde Park 1969 - I'll never forget it

joannenewton46, you took the words out of my mouth (or page!).

My answer is 'my body'. I always felt fat, ugly and frumpy compared to friends but looking at photographs from those days I see a tall, slim, beautifully proportioned young woman with thick glossy hair (on my head...!). I just wish I had understood that we are all different and I was as beautiful as the people I envied.

Went to a Halle Orchestra concert conducted by Sir John Barbarolli when I was about 13, Sat behind the orchestra, if we went in school uniform we were allowed in for 1/-! Will never forget it.

Being young. I didn't truly appreciate my body until bits started "dropping off" and not working so well as they once did! Still, I'm only 24 in my head so perhaps that counts.

No it wasn't Ray Charles- I was mad about "I can't stop loving you" so I would have recognised him. These were really old black blues singers who came onto the stage sat down on chairs and just played guitar and sang. One of them had a bottle next to his chair and he had an occasional swig. Wish I'd taken notice of the names!

Excuse me but did you say a blind singer was brought onto the stage, could it have been Ray Charles? Also saw the Beatles at the Albert Hall they came on 2nd to an American forgot his name.

I am SO jealous of you ladies who had the pleasure of seeing a Beatles concert (or even 3or 4!!) My older sister took me to the pictures when I was about 5 to see "Help!" she didn't really want to but I pleaded!

Also went with the school to the Olympics when they were held in Rome, and would have appreciated the events much more today than I did then

@libra10 - totally off topic but that must have been 1960? I was studying in Brighton and in the holidays went to Vienna and at one time hitch hiked round the country. Got stranded one dark night in north Italy and (to my great relief!) was given a lift to Innsbruck by a Dutch gentleman returning from those Olympic Games...

You've refreshed some of my memories there

I was at one of the London universities in the 60s and Ted Hughes was due to give a lecture to my Englisg group. The summer day dawned, a friend called to say my group of friends were hitchhiking down to Margate and did I want to join them. No contest! I will regret that decision to my dying day!

I wish I had appreciated ME - looking back at photos I was tall, slim, attractive. Ate from morning till night and never put an ounce on. Probably all the dancing, or maybe the genes! Not having the confidence to apply for jobs I really would have loved to have done as not feeling "good enough". My mother died in tragic circumstances when I was 19 and I am sad she never knew my children and vice versa. She did compliment me when she was alive, but I had low self esteem due to being sent off to boarding school when I was six - until I was ten. Another story! rejection issues etc. But Hey today I do have self esteem and confidence and like me, after a lot of hard work.

I wish I had appreciated, or known, that I could probably have found a way to go to College after school .....my mother said to me, on the morning of the 11+ "there's no need you passing any exams ..you won't be going to any grammar school, we can't afford it" and later, when I left Secondary school, and my teachers said I should go to college to study for exams in English or go to Art School ...again, my mother did not come to the leaving appointment with the school ...she just said 'Your brother never went to college and you are not going either ....go and get a job like I did" (actually, the truth is, she never worked outside the home, apart from a brief spell during the war when she was assigned to war work making parachutes !) she even managed to avoid doing that for long, after meeting my dad and immediately having my brother !) I did go on to pay for myself through nightschool and get the qualifications I needed to become a Solicitors Clerk, and then had various jobs throughout life, but sadly it was with no thanks to my mother ! My lovely dad was my 'champion' bless him, but he never got involved !

My friend and I saw The Beatles perform four times in the 60s, at Preston, Southport, Wigan, and (I think) Blackpool. Trouble was, with all the screaming and shouting from fans, you couldn't hear a thing!

Also went with the school to the Olympics when they were held in Rome, and would have appreciated the events much more today than I did then.

I realise now how much I took my health for granted - I used to walk miles, now I can only manage short distances with the aid of a stick & even then it can be painful. My knees - I can't kneel down as it feels like I'm kneeling on glass

I do feel that I was lucky with my parents, loved my Dad who died too young (I was 22) but ended up with a lovely step-father who became my DD's beloved GD - sad my Dad missed out on my lovely DGS.

I was a confident teenager, lucky to be slim with long legs & smashing figure, fully supported by my parents in all aspects of my life. One legacy my DD gave me was a wicked sense of humour

My parents were too busy working to tell us anything except passing exams was good. However my grand mother called us 'her little jewels'. I felt very valued by her but not very much by my parents.

So I try to be more supportive to my grandchildren and tell them how much I love them.

So glad it all turned out well for you Phoebes. Your husband sounds lovely.

I wish I had stood up to my Dad more - he was a total control freak and once told me I was sexually malajusted when I was about 13 just because my friend and I were having a completely innocent game of tennis over in the park with two boys we knew. I have never forgotten it. He also made me take up a post as a teacher, after university, when I really wanted to go to art school and do something creative. I was very artistic then and am - at last - an artist now. He also took control of my student grant and used to dole out a certain amount a week. I gave in as I was afraid to stand up to him. Two years in to university, I wanted to go on holiday with a group of my friends who included an Iraqui boy, and my parents went berserk because he wasn't white! I was all set to move out and cut the ties for ever, when a letter arrived, offering me a place on the Honours French course, so I decided I had better take it up. Eventually I moved out of home, after a year away in France as part of my course, having tasted freedom. When I wanted to get married, after being independent for many years and having bought my own house, my parents made an unbelievable fuss because my fiancé was Greek (foreign!) and not in a profession! My Dad even wrote me a letter saying that he only wanted to marry me because I was British and had a house (not for my good looks and charming personality!!!) and that he would probably bring all his family over to live with us! I was so fed-up, I gave them back the front-door key and said I didn't want to see them again, but my fiancé made me go and see them with him and make up. They were rather relieved as they hadn't heard from me for a couple of weeks and my Dad gave my fiancé one of his ties!! I don't know if he thought he didn't have a tie to his name! They did come to the wedding, although my Mum never stopped saying she wished I'd married a Doctor or a Solicitor!!! My husband was an angel towards her until she died and we are still happily married 34 years on! To be fair, I think my Mum was totally influenced by my Dad.

The same in my family Blinko a great aunt and uncle but they were an unmarried brother and sister who remained in the family home when their siblings all married and started their own families. The were lovely people who were like an additional pair of grandparents. When any child in the family had a birthday my great aunt would make a clootie dumpling with silver sixpences wrapped in greaseproof paper hidden inside. They welcomed everyone into their home. No favourites, everyone was treated the same. Kind people and I remember them both with love.

I remember my mother telling me how boring I was to keep on chatting about what I was doing at school etc. (I was about 12 at the time), and how I would never have any friends if I talked so much. I have grown up to be very introverted and shy, and find making friends and small talk very difficult. My own children have been brought up to believe in themselves and thankfully are so different.

A great aunt and uncle who were unable to have their own children, and doted on us. They were very much a part of our early years. I loved them, but wish I had valued them more when they were alive.

I often wonder how different our lives could have been if we had half the praise and affection that children have today, being praised for the good and only being aware of our successes. I think things have swung round too far however, OTT, and only our GC will be the proof when they reach adulthood. They will probably still have some regrets about their upbringing, probably how they were over indulged and cannot retain the same life style that parents bestowed on them in their formative years. (who knows),Although my childhood was a nightmare, it has made me the person I am today and for that I am grateful. If only, like the old saying goes, we could put old heads on young shoulders, maybe we could then have managed our own destiny better. That is my only regret.