Dear Old Gran

Gran came to the USA from the Old County in the
latter 1800s. She spoke no English - yet made it
through the whole Ellis Island thing. Her husband
had come over a couple years earlier - looking for
a good gig. First Canada, then the USA.
Somehow he found her in NYC.
Later moved south. Ag/botany/herbiculture was the
main thing - plenty of that back in the day.
Gran DID learn pretty good English - but the old
accent did remain.
Raising 7 kids during The Depression was certainly
a challenge.
Only ONE kid got a college degree. No money for
any of the others ... bright as they were.
Back when I was a kid I had three volumes of a
book entitled "How Things Work". Gran read them
all cover to cover, even well into her 80s. Didn't
think much of it then, but now I see it as the
sign of a very bright inquisitive mind, just
kind of obscured by the thick accent. Ok, she
DID have a love for 'professional wrestling' and
a soap opera - loved the hero/villain dynamic :-)
Hated 'rabbit food' - euro boiled meat/'taters
mostly - 6 aspirin and a can of beer daily, lived
well to 99. Saw the invention of the airplane and
the moon landings.
She DID have a sort of joke ... claimed the
world was flat and dared anybody to prove
otherwise  :-)
It's really NOT that easy ...
Her BEST wise advice however - STILL extremely
relevant - was "Spend a little less than you
earn and everything will be ok". Later gens
do NOT heed that advice - and are deep in the
pit of hell because of it.
--
033-33