Memories written by C. J. Gardner
My Mother, fell a few years ago and had multiple fractures in both hands! My sisters and I took turns staying with her through the ordeal. Every day I am amazed by her recovery and her fortitude over all the years. She has been a widow for more than twenty years, is now 92 years old, a depression era baby, and has worked hard her entire life. She knew hunger as a child and watched her parents struggle to provide for her and her ten sisters and brothers. She lived in a time when people died because there were no antibiotics. There were no feminine products. There was no television. The house in which she was raised never had electricity or running water. You made do with what you had.
After getting married, her first apartment was above a laundry and the rent was $7.00 a week. She saw her brothers go off to a war in a country she could barely find on a map. I have found that depression era people have a different outlook on life. In the back of their mind, there is always the feeling that “it” could happen again. They save everything, they use everything, but more importantly, they are always willing to share the information with anyone interested. I told Mom that she is the original “prepper”.
After explaining the term prepper, we both had a good laugh, but she agrees…”That’s me all right!!”Mom says her secret to longevity is to keep moving, and true to her word, she never slows down. She has an enviable green thumb! She plants a garden every year, cans tomatoes and cold packs green beans. People driving by her house often stop just to look at her array of flowers, which thrive under her supervision. She distributes her egg shells and coffee grounds among the flowers and they thank her for it by blooming profusely! She collects rain water, makes her own natural weed killer, and saves seeds religiously.
During a recent visit, I sat at the kitchen table with my mother and had a cup of tea. When I asked what kind of tea we were enjoying, I found it was tea made from her bee balm plant. She annually makes a poison ivy solution from jewel weed. As we talk, she sorts through a stack of egg cartons she had saved. She uses them to start her vegetable seeds each spring.
Throwing glass jars away is a sin at Mom’s house. Those provide storage for everything from leftover soup to nuts and bolts. She composts her kitchen scraps, diligently working them into her garden with a hand hoe.
Mom’s faithful companion is a little dog named Charlie. Every evening, she walks him. To clean up after him, she carries a wad of paper towel that she has saved throughout the day from washing and drying her hands.At times, I have grown concerned because Mom saves so much that her house becomes a little cluttered. But she eventually sorts it out and the next time I come over, the house is clean, and she has moved on to the next project.
Making quilts is Mom’s indoor hobby. She has created many beautiful quilts and is currently working on one for each of her nine grandchildren…all at the same time. She quilts faithfully every evening, tediously cutting and sewing tiny pieces of fabric that the average person would have thrown away.
I think the one thing I marvel at the most is the manner in which my Mother does these things…without thinking…like it is second nature…ingrained in her being. Growing up, I was a Brownie and then a Girl Scout…my Mother…one of the leaders. Part of the Girl Scout law is to “use resources wisely…and make the world a better place.” My Mother embodies that message!
I believe, as preppers, we must encourage our children and grandchildren to move away from the television, cell phones and computers. Give up the junk food! Watch a sunrise or sunset. Plant a flower. Grow a garden. Watch a butterfly come out of a cocoon. Learn to build a fire without using a match. Talk to your elders. Learn from their experience. Get outside and wonder at the world we have been given!
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