[or-roots] Patriotism, etc.

[Verdena Veelle]

Dorothy it looks like you did a very good thing with your post.  I get so sick of the
people who want to do nothing but put our country down.  The entertainers who have so much
seem to be among the worst and the media is pretty bad also.

I am only 60 but have been disabled since 1997 when I almost died from a rare occurrence
involving an infection in my chest.

I grew up on a farm and had quite strict parents.  They were older also.  My father lost
his first wife and he had four children.  My mother was told she would never had children
but when she was 36 she got pregnant with me.  My father was either 7 or 9 years older
than her.  My father enlisted for W.W.I but had to get out to help his parents, my
half-brother served in W.W.II and my own son was in the Navy for five years.

It was only by my father and mother's resourcefulness that we survived I believe.  Mother
was a teacher in one room schools but in the summer she gardened and canned all the time.
We had cows and chickens for milk and eggs.  She baked a lot.  She picked the wild berries
and even gathered dandelion greens.  She butchered the chickens which we usually had for
Sunday dinner and had company almost every Sunday also.

I agree that we are spoiled and even though we don't have as much as some we have so much
more that our parents would never have even dreamed off.  I picked berries and green beans
in the summer to get money to buy my school clothes.  I realize that even my childhood
would have seemed luxury to my grandparents and great-grandparents.   What would they
think today when we take so many things for granted?

I do believe that most people interested in genealogy have the tendency to honor the past
more so than those who are not into it.

There are many wonderful people on this list.  Good to hear from Cecil again.
Verdena Veelle