Successful Age Interview

For this interview project we were assigned to interview a “successful ager” who is over 55 years old. When I first heard of the assignment I knew who I wanted to interview right from the start. The person who I chose to interview is my mother Carolyn McDonald. My mother was born in 1952 and is currently sixty four years old which puts her directly into this category. I thought that doing this assignment with my mother would not only be a unique experience that I would not have otherwise had, but also a larger insight into what has shaped and defined her over the years. Before I started the interview process I told her I would be audio recording the interview for my notes. I also gave her a list of questions to approve or decline before we …show more content…
My mother grew up with her father and mother, she was an only child. She did not have much interaction with her grandparents, but she saw her aunts and uncles on a regular basis. The first question I asked her was how would you describe your parent’s personalities? She said kind, nice, loving, funny, and easygoing. I then asked her if she had any pets growing up. She had a Shetland sheepdog named Cindy. When they moved to California they had to leave Cindy behind with other family. Her parents also got a Pekinese dog named KimChu when she was in her high school years. I also asked about what family dinners were like in her house: who cooked, what were your favorite dishes, did you all eat together? Her mom was the main cook in her household, but her dad did like to grill out hamburgers on occasion. They ate together as a family every night at the dinner table. Her favorite foods were spaghetti, and her favorite tradition was that every Sunday they would have ice cream with chocolate sauce and peanuts for dinner. I wanted to then know how special occasions were celebrated in her family. For birthdays she would get to pick what was for supper that night and they had a chocolate cake for every birthday. On Halloween they had apple cider and powder sugar donuts. For Christmas Santa Claus would bring the tree on Christmas Eve when he brought all the presents, but they would leave their tree up well into the New Year. On New Year’s Day they would always have the traditional sauerkraut, pork, and mashed potatoes for good luck. I asked her if she remembered ever hearing any famous stories about her ancestors. She said the one that was told over and over again was about the ancestor who died from having the hiccups. I then asked her if there are anything possession wise that have been passed down from generation to generation. She said recipes like Nanas chocolate cake, she