Everybody has a "Story..."



"Grandma" Anna & Gabriel-Oct 2011

I've always been drawn to the elderly in my life. Perhaps, because I've always had respect and appreciation for the fact that they have been on the earth a great many more hours, days and years than I have, and as a result have developed wisdom through experience. My grandmother is the youngest of seven, and all of her siblings (except her twin brother) have settled down in Sheridan, WY...where they were born and raised. So, I have fond memories of spending my summers with Grandma and visiting all the "Great" Aunts and Uncles (her brothers and sisters) and listening to all of their stories and personalities. I never got bored of that. I really miss that.

Right now I'm far away from family, and most of my Grandma's siblings have passed away. However, I have the opportunity to visit teach an older lady in my ward...Gabriel and I like to call her "Grandma Anna." She is a 94 yr old widow who recently moved to Ohio from Arizona. Her body isn't as reliable as it once was, and she now requires the assistance and care of her family. While she may not get around as well as she used to she still has quite a good memory and can be quite clever and poignant at times.



(A family during Great Depression-1936 by Dorthea Lange)

Last month while visiting her she mentioned that one of her grandaughters would be celebrating her 14th birthday, and she began to reminisce about her own life at 14yrs of age. When she was 14 it was 1931 - two years into the great depression. She said by the time she was 14 she knew how to sew, cook, do laundry and household work - compared to her 14yr old granddaughter today who has none of those skills. She went on to say that during that year her family was starving, her father was out of work and her mother was 8 months along with twins. One day she and her sister came home from school to find police cars in front of their home. Her father had hung himself in the basement. The pressures of providing for his family was too great - especially during a time when unemployment was 25% and many were starving and homeless.

Shortly after that her mother gave birth to the twins and seemed to have a difficult time coping with life...new babies, no work, no husband, no money or food. So, she would often take-off for weeks at at a time leaving 14yr old Anna and her younger sister to take care of the twins. Anna said she learned quickly how to scrounge for food, make formula and change and wash diapers. Eventually her mother placed an ad in the paper to place the twin boys for adoption. Anna remembers the ad was so indifferent - mentioning twin babies available for adoption along with the sale of all of their baby supplies for a small fee. Within the week a lady responded to the ad and came to pick up the babies and supplies. But, later that week, she called Anna's mom saying she could only handle one of the babies and asked to return the other, and Anna's mom agreed. She then placed another ad and adopted out the other twin.

By 15yrs of age Anna's mom had remarried a very unkind man who would often beat Anna. At the time Anna had met a young man - 18yrs of age. One day her beau came to pick her up and she showed up at the door with a black eye. So, the young man told her to get her things - they were going to run away and get married, and that is exactly what she did, never looking back and completely losing touch with her family.

Many years later she found her twin brothers and sister, and they have continued to stay in contact. But, she admits that she still has a difficult time fully forgiving her mother, but that those hard times made her who she was and prepared her for other difficult times in her life. She said she never complained or wallowed in self-pity - there wasn't time or energy to spare on such useless responses. All she could do was pick herself up and keep going.

So, we all have our "stories..." there aren't many who are without their hardships and trials, and there is purpose to it all. Sometimes that only purpose might be to refine us and prepare us, or even to test our true character...how we will respond during those difficult times. Hearing Anna's story was a reminder to me that we can still CHOOSE how to respond to the hard things in life-even if we can't control them. We can choose to whine and wallow in our sorrows or we can choose to overcome. I can see that Anna has made the choice MANY times to overcome, and while her life may not have always been easy - she says she was always able to grow from her trials and find happiness.