It’s hard to imagine it sometimes. The world was a different place not very long ago and there was a time when people didn’t spend every waking moment looking at the screen in their hands. I learned a lot from talking to people who have lived before the time I was born. I heard wonderful stories that almost seem like fantasy, about what the Almaden Valley used to be like before all the housing and all the changes that came with the development of the area. And I heard sad stories, too, like how people felt when they heard JFK was assissinated or when they heard about 9/11. It can be hard to imagine, it can be impossible to put yourself in their shoes and try to recreate the feelings they felt. But when you really listen, you can find the similarities. The little things that make growing up fun and exciting. Being a kid, getting your first job, feeling the wonder of growing up.This project has been an adventure unlike any others and something I will remember for the rest of my life. It has given me a chance to talk to some incredible people and see the passion in their eyes when they speak about the things that have made them who they are, the things that have changed them and given them a reason to live the way that they do. My name is Elizabeth Larabee-Weigand and I'm a Girl Scout in Troop 60781. I've been in Girl Scouts since Kindergarten and now I am a Freshman in High School.  For my Silver Award project, which is a project that cadets work on, I decided to interview people who have lived in the Almaden Valley area for a long time. Throughout the whole project I met such sweet and amazing people who had  such interesting stories to tell. My purpose for this project was to educate and inform people about the more social side of Almaden Valley in contrast to the typical mining history of Almaden that we are taught in school.