When grandparents repeat the same story, they’re handing you something to carry. Take it.

Repetition is usually a sign of importance rather than of forgetting. A story told for the fifth time has been selected out of eighty years as one that matters, and the telling is an attempt to pass it to somebody who will still have it later, which is why they keep checking that it landed. The irritation is understandable. The transaction is still real.

Next time, listen as though you are being handed something to keep. Ask one new question: who else was there, what happened afterwards. Then write it down that evening, because you will think you will remember it and you will not.