Well, we cannot all be famous. I was surprised when my second oldest granddaughter asked me “Who is Michael Jackson?”

Hm. That was a few years ago. Now I have grandkids who are the ripe old age of seven. Every famous person I know now will be history to them. And, many will be forgotten.

I grew up with a mother who loved piano sheet music. In fact, I have most of it now. Mom would play her ragtime versions of old songs and sing along. I grew up with a history through music. The sheet music alone told me of the times. Perhaps that is why I hate to part with any of it. The famous people of her time are lost on me except for a few.

Now there is more modern technology, allowing the introduction of more people to larger audiences. As I cannot remember my parents’ idols, I have no idea if any of mine will be tucked into the memory of my kids. I am on the fringes of everyone’s lives except my very own.

In my query as to famous people in the past, I decided to pull out some of current-day famous people from Ohio, a state that has had a plethora of big names throughout history.

We have Neil Armstrong, Hallie Barrie, Steven Spielberg, Toni Morrison, Luke Perry, John Legend, Sarah Jessica Parker.

Here are a few from Dayton: Allison Janney (West Wing, Mom), Martin Sheen (West Wing), Chad Lowe (Pretty Little Liars).

The list of presidents, sports figures, inventors, etc., is much too long to mention, but you get the point. We all knew that Thomas Edison, Orville Wright, Annie Oakley, Lowell Thomas, etc, came from Ohio, but how many of the new ones do you know? My grandlittles will not remember them. It is the way of life, isn’t it?

I try to listen to the music of my grandkids just as I did for my children. Now I find myself singing Baby Shark and Wonky Donkey. I want to know about their favorite books. Dogman is Nolan’s, while Emma likes anything about horses. (Now I have Baby Shark in my head!)

Well, we cannot all be famous. We move on and gather all the famous names and events from our youth to now as will our children and grandchildren. Sometimes I marvel at time, how it quickly captures so many names, places and things. Then I marvel at how many of them I forget. We cannot all be famous to everyone forever, but we can certainly be memorable in our own families