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If you’re lucky, you grew up knowing your grandparents. If you’re even luckier those grandparents lived nearby and enriched your life by their interest and enthusiastic involvement. Unfortunately, the Industrial Revolution, while it has brought us lives of relative ease and abundance, has also brought about the gradual decline and demise of the close-knit, extended family.

Much of the knowledge that our elders, the grandparents, carried was tied to life on the land. We can recall the easy, simple times spent with these adults who indulged us and shared their memories of a time that today seems as remote and as removed as the Middle Ages. Yet, since we carry the memories and experiences with us, we have the opportunity to share them with a new generation, being born into a century with untold opportunities and far too many dangers.

As we age, we reflect on our childhoods. Even though the mists of time tend to spray a cloud of gold over those days, we know that there were experiences that gave us great pleasure and cemented the bonds with the elders who shared themselves with us.

When I was born, I had two living grandmothers. One lived in California, and I have very fuzzy memories of her. She only visited us a handful of times, and I don’t recall her as particularly warm or even interested in interacting with my siblings or me.

My other grandmother lived just a block away from us, and I had more than twenty years of close acquaintance with her. I even lived with her for four years during and after high school. She didn’t have the time or personality to get down on the floor and play with us, but her house was always open to us and we wore a path through our neighbor’s back yards to get there. She had a few old toys and books for us to play with and a big, old piano that we made noise on, but mostly we simply came over to visit. If we were lucky, she’d make us root beer floats.

This is what I believe about our most firmly held memories of time with our grandparents: They are tied to our senses, all of which were much keener for us as children. Smell, sight, sound, touch and taste—these are the things that will stay with a child as they grow to adulthood, recalling times shared with grandparents.

One of the most mouth-watering, sensual memories I have with my grandmother is from a summer day, when we went out into the country to pick tomatoes. It was a hot day and even though we got there early, the sun was beating down on us as we moved through the pungent rows of tomato plants. What I remember most about the day is that she packed cheese sandwiches, and I have never eaten anything more delicious than a rich, sweet tomato right off the vine, still holding the sun’s heat, juice running down my chin, followed by a bite of soft cheese on white bread. The smells and tastes flowed together, and I can see us there now, joined forever by the simple act of harvesting food.

I have waited a very long time to become a grandmother and not just because our daughters chose to wait until their thirties to have children. I can’t explain why, but even when my two children were preteens, I was contemplating grandparenthood. I packed away all of their Fisher Price toys in the original boxes to share with the next generation, and I saved as many of their books as possible. I so greatly enjoyed raising those two children that I knew I wanted to have similar experiences again—but without the many worries and day-to-day concerns that accompany parenthood. I understood even then that, as a grandparent, I would be able to have fun, play, act silly and share what I’ve learned in life but still have the luxury of going home at the end of the day to a quiet, clean house.

Now we have three grandsons and two granddaughters and we are looking forward to years of adventures together. This is why we have written Grandparents Minnesota Style: to help other grandparents find those unique and unforgettable places that will combine fun and facts, history and humor, excitement and enduring memories for you and for the special grandchildren in your life.