IMMIGRANT DAUGHTER 43

Well I am a year older and wiser and still learning that I have much to learn. But also learned I have much to give. I am so blessed to be in a church family that wants me there. I know it is hard to fit in when there is not much you can help with because of not being able to move about easily and running out of steam quickly. They accept me in spite of all my shortcomings.

My sister and I played pinochle one evening and I lost all three games but enjoyed it immensely. My DIL has been very busy with her nie
ces this weekend. She took them to the River Market and walked herself tired. She picked up some sugarless wheat bread with flax seed for me and of course I had to taste it before supper. It was delicious.

I will get back to my story about my life with Carl. The first 25 years we moved about to so many places that home was, where we were at the present time. We lived in so many homes that the mortgage companies owned. We never stayed long enough to end up owning it because we always had to sell it to use as our down payment on the next house in a different place. At one point my oldest sister told me she wished could able to travel about living in different places. And I told her to be satisfied you and your husband own your home and no matter what inflation does you have your own place and no one can end your lease on short notice and you actually own it lock stock and barrel. Why is it the other side of the fence always looks greener. I just wanted her to know what she had was a blessing a lot of people wished they had in their later years. She and her husband are 88.

Carl did quite a bit of traveling in our military life and he always had extra jobs to supply funds for what our kids needed. The governments’ pay scale was always lower than civilian pay especially way back he received $99 dollars a month and room and board
But looking back I can say that kept us closer together. We never were bored with each other. He told me one day one of the things he thoroughly enjoyed was that when he came home the kids were bathed and clean up running up to him and screaming daddy. He also knew supper was ready and on the table. After we ate he always helped clean up the mess in which I was thankful for.

Our children always had their jobs to do around the house. As they got older it went from picking up their toys to keeping their rooms clean to really helping with other chores of cleaning. They got an allowance according to job and their age. It is interesting to me how the personality of children, are different in the same family. We had one thrifty and neat and willing to please; one happy go lucky and not wanting to work and always looking for ways to get out of it leaving work undone most of the time and at times having a balance of the two different personalities before becoming capable to handle anything that comes their way. I continue to pray for my children as they face some of the hard choices in life that has yet to come that they respond according to the Lords teaching.

When we celebrated our 25th anniversary in 1974 our kids were not at home and Carl was working for Glidden paint doing all sorts of jobs. This is a picture of how we looked then.Shortly after that he took a job working as a representative for Strasenburg that required him to wear a suit and tie because he had to call on doctors to sell his wares. Eventually this company was bought by Pennwalt and then merged with a French company and all through these changes Carl climbed up the ladder of responsibility of having others working for him. This required him to travel out of the state managing his men calling on doctors and making out repor
ts to turn in to the home office. He had the responsibility of hiring and firing in his territory. Eventually he became National Sales Manager of the Eastern half of the U.S.



Remember I mentioned this was the orphan boy that was thrown out with the dishwater because money ruled the roost, in the male household where the money belonged to the grandmother who told everyone what they can or can’t do.

Any job Carl had he excelled to the highest limit in spite of the odds against him. I was, extremely blessed having been married to him.

As my sister and I sit and reminisce about both our husbands having passed on and wonder at this age what is left beside sitting around not really doing any thing.

So, what we do is count our blessings. I am Immigrant Daughter.