Some days are so special we don’t want to see them end.

That sure was the case last week when I spent a precious week with my family in Maine. My two daughters and three grandchildren made every minute of the trip special.

I wished there were some way to make the week last longer. Since I couldn’t do that, I stored away memories of the week.

I’m not one who likes to see photos of myself, but the photos from our kayak trip will fuel my happy memories for a long time. In that way, the week will never be over.

My grandkids all have consuming jobs and it’s hard for them to schedule time away. So I was doubly thrilled they wanted to take the time to be with their old grandmother.

My granddaughter Sophie went so far as to ask her boss if she could “work from home” for the week so she could be with her grandmother. Her boss understood how important it was for her.

For her part, Sophie did indeed, work before she joined our fun each day.

We were able to have the rarity of three generations having fun on the lake. I’ll never forget our time on the water when my daughter Andrea and I kayaked and Sophie joined us on her paddle board.

Now, whenever I want to be uplifted I’ll be able to have the photos daughter Maria took. She loves her time in Maine but it seemed to me that this time she was more concerned with making sure I had the ultimate family experience.

Andrea kept asking Maria and me what we wanted to do for a fun activity. She kept mentioning interesting places we could visit. Where did we want to go?

Maria and I had the same answer. We didn’t care about where we went or what we did. All we wanted was to be together as a family. And, the more traveling and sightseeing you do the less time you will have for meaningful conversation with family.

Sitting on the deck in the glorious Maine sunlight while we shared family stories gave us hours of pleasure. No tourist spot could give us more pleasure.

Andrea took us to one of her favorite places for Maine lobster, where the water view was as special as the lobster rolls. Definitely yummy.

But our favorite place to eat was at Andrea’s house (best food in town) where we gathered in the kitchen then wanted her recipes for us to make when we are home.

If there’s anything better than being together and sharing a family meal I’ve never found it.

My good-as-gold son-in-law Greg told me he was grateful that I introduced the concept of long, leisure family meals with plenty of conversation. He said that remains a cherished tradition for his family, and that of his adult kids.

I must say that made me feel good. Over the years we parents might do plenty of semi-annoying things, but it’s good to know we did some family traditions worth continuing.

You know what I call our recent family vacation? I call it the building of memories.

Some may enjoy buying vacation souvenirs, but I most enjoy the family times that stay in my mind long after the vacation is over.

As I talked with my adult grandkids I was hit with the thought that we might not get many more opportunities to be together and really get to know each other.

I think of that because my grandmother had plenty of interesting stories she could have told me but she didn’t tell me much about her life before she left Italy to come here.

All she told me about her life in her Italian village of Squillace in Calabria was that they “didn’t have much.”

When I finally got to visit her village after she had passed away, I was stunned by its beauty. It sits high on a cliffside above the beautiful Ionian coast.

There was much about the small village that spoke to my heart. I was sorry when I had to leave. Ever since then I’ve been sorry I didn’t know more about my grandmother’s life there.

I know that’s my fault because I didn’t ask enough questions when she was still here. The fact that I didn’t speak Italian and she didn’t know much English helped create the void.

I have so many questions for her that I wish I could ask. But it’s too late.

That experience makes me wonder if my own grandchildren will wish they knew more about me when I am gone.

Do we ever really get to know our grandparents more than superficially?

In my grandmother’s time family lived close by, but that is no longer the case.

I suspect in this era of easy communication we know a lot less about our family than we think we do.

How about you?

How much do you know about your grandparents?

Will there come a time when you might want to know more than you do about your family?

Email Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net