‘Lila, this is Ila. You were born in 1996 and she was born in 1906.’

Since Harriet was there, Ila began to talk about her brothers and their hunting dogs. Then she told Lila that she, Lila, had a ‘family name’, and that her family had had first a DeLila in it, then a Lila, then her, named a shortened Ila. Ila held Lila’s hand in hers, and she talked more than I had ever seen her do.

When finally we had to leave, later I told Lila that Ila had been her age in World War 1 and that there had not been bathrooms, electricity, TVs, phones, refrigerators, nor the car back then. Actually, I was technically wrong, since Henry Ford had just begun his company around then in 1903. Certainly there weren’t too many of them critters around back then, though. What a different time that was, as they used horses or walked.

I hope Lila learned something by meeting Ila? And I know that Ila certainly appreciated the opportunity to talk. And that’s how Lila met Ila.

It’s certainly sad when history is not recognized so we got to grab it when we can. Ila had 102 years to talk about but we were only able to give her 15 minutes. It felt sad to go.