I am quite a young researcher (in my 30s) but I also wish I had been able to start earlier! Unfortunately, my ability to ask living relatives about their memories is limited. I only have one grandparent remaining (my paternal grandmother, who is 92) - my maternal grandmother died before I was born (my mother was 17), my maternal grandfather when I was 5 and my paternal grandfather when I was 12.
To add to that, my mother emigrated to Australia with her parents when she was 1, and her extended family is small (she's an only child). Luckily I have found a few of her cousins, one in Wales and one in Canada, who have been researching longer than me and have been very helpful! (even luckier they're from different branches of the family) My mother also has a illegitimate grandparent, which makes her family tree a little lopsided - I discovered that he also had an older brother, from another father, which my mother didn't know about, I believe that my g-grandfather was given his father's name, like his older brother was, but unfortunately the surname is "Jones"!
My paternal grandfather wrote up a memoir of his WWII service before he died (which included maps, photos and newspaper articles), and also inserted a brief précis of his own research into his family, including some information about his father's life, which is very helpful. That particular side of the family also has an incredibly accurate family tree which stretches back 8 generations from myself and includes quite a few extensions including all of my g-grandfather's children (to two different wives!). There are also three of my paternal grandfather's siblings still living - the eldest is 98, and of course his wife to ask.
My paternal grandmother and her two living siblings (99 and 97 respectively) unfortunately never met any of their extended family - their father emigrated from Scotland to Queensland in the early 1900s, and subsequently married their mother and moved to Victoria (their mother married "beneath her") and never had the money to travel, so their contact with their grandparents, aunts and uncles was limited mostly to the exchange of letters. My father was in contact with one of his Scottish great-uncles, my grandmother with one of her aunts and one of my grandmother's deceased siblings with various cousins both in Queensland (their mother's family) and Scotland (their father's family) - I have been lucky to have been gifted with that particular great aunt's effects, which include letters from my g-g-grandmother in Scotland to my g-grandfather in Australia and letters from my cousins in Scotland at the deaths of the last of father's g-uncles and aunts (both dying in their late 90s). I have been blessed again by other members of my extended family - cousins on my g-grandmother's side, who have been researching themselves, and have documented and collated information on two large branches (including my mostly unknown Jewish branch - which I didn't realise actually existed) which has allowed me to add to my own tree.
I have been able to amuse my parents when I discovered that in Orthodox Judaism the "Jewish-ness" passes through the mother's line, which would make my living, Baptist, grandmother technically Jewish (my Jewish g-g-grandmother was her mother's mother), and equally therefore make my two non-religious aunts technically Jewish, although none of us would claim this.
My paternal grandmother has been writing her memoirs, which are incomplete, but I have been lucky enough to read, although not document as of yet, which she has also punctuated with photos and other mementos; she also knows that I am interested in the family history, and has shared stories and shown me family heirlooms, like my g-grandfather's trunk, newspapers, photos and my g-grandmother's wedding dress. I am also lucky to have an Uncle and a cousin (son of my grandmother's 97 yr old sister) who are interested in research and I can discuss various discoveries with and bounce ideas off.
I am hopefully going to visit the old country perhaps next year and be able to visit places related to the family, some of my mother's relatives (we're not in contact with any of my father's Scottish relatives, all of those who we exchanged letters with have died) and perhaps other places to contact research - I am limited in this as well, because of the emigration of my family and a large number of them emigrating before they married (particularly on my father's side), the number of places and counties to visit are quite extensive.
.... Another commented on a film shoot she was taking part in earlier this week not far from my current home. I happened to glance at her educational background and saw she had spent some time at RADA. Out of nowhere I remembered my grandmother having a young man board with her c 1955-8 who was a student at RADA at the time and going with her to see him perform in "The Tempest". The recollection was so vivid I could describe what he wore!! This was the same late Victorian lady who unwittingly took me to see "Folies Bergère" at the Finsbury Park Empire when I was about nine years old . If I wasn't currently restricted to dial up because I am out in the "wilderness" I could probably be tempted to buy something off E-Bay to confirm that memory!!
But, knowing her proper name, and those of her first-cousin parents, I now have her tree back to 5th great-grandparents.