I am an orphan. Well, not really. My parents are both deceased. My father died in 1974.  My mother died in 2004. Since that time I have thought of many questions I wish I had asked them. Here are some question ideas from an article in the May issue of Real Simple magazine and some ideas of my own. If you have the opportunity, you might want to take the time to do an interview with your own parents.

Questions you might want to ask your parents:

• "Why/how did you choose your career path?" My father was a dentist. I have no idea why he decided on that occupation. That question has become even more significant to me as our youngest son prepares to enter dental school. If it's in the genes, it definitely skipped a generation.

• "As a parent, what would you have done differently?" I think we are quick to determine what our parents did wrong. It would have been interesting to see if their list matched mine. More than once I have stated that I was not going to make the same mistakes my parents made in order to have more time for my own mistakes. :)
  

• "Was being a parent easier or harder when you had a job full-time?" Kids have not necessarily changed dramatically, but our world has! How do your parents see the changes affecting the job of being a father or mother?

• "If your parents were still living, what questions would you like to ask them?" The answer to this one might prompt a similar question from you to your mother or father.

• "When did you know that you were no longer a child? When did you realize that I was an adult?" Being the youngest in my family (and, for the most part, relishing that position) there were times that I doubted that my mother or father ever realized my arrival into adulthood. It would have been interesting to see what circumstance made them aware of their status as adults.

• This last suggestion is a fill in the blank. It is actually a question to you, "What have you always wanted to ask your parents?" When you determine that answer, I would encourage you to ask your question. Ask now before the ones who can answer are no longer available for an interview!