There's the story about the WWII Navy man who sent his sweetheart a heart ring he carved out of a metal pipe -- a piece of a Japanese kamikaze plane from the South Pacific.

There's the one about the guy who went from an Iowa high school ball diamond to the major leagues where he played with the Yankees alongside the likes of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.

And the tale about the British ballet dancer who survived a shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea and eventually made her way to Le Mars.

Stories. That's the best part about being a reporter. It's like getting to crack open the cover of a good novel, except better, because it's for real. All it takes is an opening question or two and boom, you're in. And it's somewhere you might never get to go in your own lifetime.

I've realized though, that while I know the details of how more than 50 area war veterans served our country, survived on rations and dodged enemy fire, I don't know much of the story of either of my grandfathers, both servicemen. And I don't know where they took their wives on their first dates. Or what their first jobs were. Unfortunately, much of those stories is lost now, since they've both passed away.

This Sunday is Grandparents' Day. Maybe I'll take the time to visit with my grandma about teaching in a one-room schoolhouse or raising kids in the '60s.

Know any good stories?