My middle name is the name I use on this blog. No, not Bookmouse, Lilian. Lilian was my grandmother’s name. Sadly, I never met her. She died in the 1960s, before my dad even met my mum. I don’t really know much about her, other than that she was a motherly, homely person, and an excellent cook. She had two sons, who are both very fond of food, a trait one of them (my dad) passed on to me, I think! The only photo of her I can remember seeing shows her smiling, in an apron. I would like to have met her, and my grandfather. He was a police officer, as two of his grandsons now are. Funny how things turn out.
I do like my middle name, yes. Partly because it’s fairly unusual, but also because of who I’m named after. I wonder what Lilian was really like, and I’m sorry we didn’t get to know each other.
I think Lilian is a lovely name – to me it sounds quaintly old fashioned but in a nice way – I wouldn’t be surprised if it became very popular again.
I didn’t know my grandparents either because they passed away before I was born (or when I was very young). I would have loved to have known them. I have some postcards which my grandparents wrote to their families and to each other when they were in their early twenties. I was quite surprised when I read them – they sounded so confident and sure of themselves and a bit immature. I suppose I imagined them as always being old