The Women in our past

This photo is of my Grandmother in the year 1908.

And this is a few years before she passed away.  She was a wonderful, kind, loving, humble and Godly woman. 

I have been very fortunate to have many special women in my life and even those that lived further away and I did not get to see as often had lasting impressions on me that I never forget.

They had strength and gentleness that is missing today and I cannot put into words to explain the differences of long ago and now other than they were good people and there was something very right about how they lived. 

My grandmother is the second from the left of the five women seen in the photo.  The next two women next to her are both of my Great Grandmothers born in 1872 and 1882.

My mother and Grandmother from my Fathers side. My Grandmother was born in 1898.

My Great Grandmother from my Fathers side. My Great Grandmother was born in 1863.

Aunt Bessie and Uncle Wash. Aunt Bessie was born in 1892  

My Grandmother top center and her two sisters, my Aunt Madge and Aunt Ruth.

This was Aunt Madge when she was grown.

Aunt Eva, my Grandmothers sister. She was born January 1900 the turn of the century. 

Every one of these women went through some very difficult times in history such as world wars and a terrible pandemic and the great depression and yet they were not bitter women, they were strong and kind and gentle and loving

My Aunt Vivian, my mothers sister was beautiful inside and out.  Each one of these women have part in my memories and all of them had a part of the making of me.  The old saying that it takes a village to raise a child seems to have been forgotten.  Each of us live in that village.

None of my family from long ago had any idea that this year of 2021 that they would still be in my memory and heart and the influence they had on me. 

But now we are the women and men that will be a memory and surely we want those to be good memories. We can be good people too and we can overcome our own life situations and come out strong and yet kind and gentle.

Possibly we did not know our direct ancestors but we still had women and men that were part of our past good or bad. Not everyone has had a great life, but we can do our best to make it better for those that we are around. We can break the cycle and make sure that those that we are around can see what kindness looks and feels like. It is our responsibility to be a good person, to show love and kindness and not be mean to others just because someone was mean to us.  We are responsible for our actions and how we behave.

Some people wonder what is my purpose?  Why am I here?  Our purpose and responsibility is to love others, care and nurture and as difficult as it is, we are to love our enemies.  This life that we are experiencing, there are many things that we do not understand but we do not need to be part of strife.

It matters how we act and behave, it matters a lot because someone is watching and we could affect others in a negative way for the rest of their lives or we can affect someone a positive way for the rest of their lives. 

Today is a difficult time to live and if something is causing us to be anything else but caring of others then we need to take a good look at ourselves and figure out why. My mother did whatever it took to do the right thing.  She stepped up to the plate, she did her part and always in a loving way.

I have struggled to pull myself back from an ugly low from some of the worst behavior I have ever seen in my lifetime these last several years.  I do wonder sometimes how the loving women in my life would have gotten through this one but they are the reasons I have found the lifeline and they have given me the strength to find my way back.  I do truly feel these were the women from the greatest generation. 

If we could do our best to resemble their strength then we need to learn some of their old skills so that they are not forgotten because their skills were what gets you through life when we hit a crisis, whatever that crisis is.  

Women can be very powerful in a good way when we roll up our sleeves and get to work. When love and concern for others is included with that then we are back to a very good place.  How can we as people keep moving further away from our roots with no concern?  We can see there is a problem with a worsening destruction of the family unit and each and every one of us can make changes to fix this by focusing on our families. 

It is not that hard, it is a matter of getting back to basics and educating ourselves by studying history of the ways that women took care of their home and children and how they worked as a community. That is how they came to be the greatest generation.  

To see the video that goes with this post, click here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0j-0GoL3O0

Grandma Donna