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Neither Am I, but my grandmother was German. The poll doesn't have to be as USA-centric as you make it :-) On a sidenote, At her funeral a few years ago I foun
by mixmax 17y ago
Neither Am I, but my grandmother was German. The poll doesn't have to be as USA-centric as you make it :-)
On a sidenote, At her funeral a few years ago I found out that in 1908, at the age of 11, she was put on a train from Germany to Denmark with noone to pick her up at the other end. Her German family was in extreme poverty and gave her a one way ticket to another country, hoping that someone would pick her up and care for her when she arrived in Denmark.
Noone did, so for the first few years she took care of herself, and was eventually adopted by a farming family where she got work. She grew up, had lots of kids, was a great mother and granny and was always there for people in hardship. Guess she knew what real hardship was.
Stoic as she was she never told anyone aboout it, and it was only revealed at her funeral. She lived to be 93.
Tough lady.
- edw519 17y agoThanks for the great story. I have many like that (but I'll spare you). My grandparents endured hardships I can't even imagine. They had nothing. Absolutely nothing. And they were 4 of the happiest people I ever met. Go figure.
- mixmax 17y agoHappiness doesn't correlate with material wealth. We often forget how much we have, how safe our lives are and how little we have to fear. When you hear stories like these, and there are many if you ask old folks that have been through wars famines and worse, you realise that happiness and living a full life is a mental exercise that is not dependant upon material wealth. That's why I wrote the post - I think it's worth saying. My grandmother was as happy an caring as one could possibly be, and it seems that your experience is the same. And they went through stuff we couldn't even dream of.