HARD TIMES

“Let’s talk about hard times some more,” wrote Grandma Ina in 1932, and then she outlined their economic woes. Her tone tells me she really didn’t want to talk about it. “Never mind,” she seems to say. “I don’t intend to do without heat, light, and food.”

Hard times tend to put life into perspective. All the projects, worries of the day, and little successes and failures are suddenly not important at all – at least not for a while. But of course, life goes on and we have to keep up our efforts to improve.

My mother had a premonition prior to her first husband’s passing. She said that she suddenly felt that something terrible was going to happen. And immediately came the thought that as tragic as it was, she would get over it. And she did. She remarried, gave birth to a late-life child, and went on being a mother, a grandmother, and a productive, creative person. She did get over the tragic event, but it was life-changing. We must accept those changes with grace.  

I think many of us are happy to say good-bye to 2023, but in reality, the turmoil will not be gone with a turn of the calendar page. The world has a lot of unfinished business and so does my family. KW