The card was unexpected, and so I decided to call the woman to thank her for remembering me. As we talked, she began telling me things about my parents that I didn't know. In the space of thirty minutes, I had new information to research about my mother. I also had some new stories to add to the family tradition. Most people think of an interview as a formal occasion, one where one person asks the questions and the other answers them.
Some people perceive an interview to be like a courtroom cross-examination.
It doesn't have to be that way. When I speak casually with relatives, either in person or by phone, genealogy is always at the back of my mind. I try very hard not to rush it, but invariably I'll ask a question or two. I make the questions open-ended so that the person has to think and frame an answer. Hopefully I get new information but, if not, I've still learned more about something I knew or heard it told a different way.