I am a boomer and every single thing you mentioned in your excellent essay is true. Right down to Grandma Zu reusing tin foil. I wonder what would happen if for 24 hours every 'smartphone on the planet turned itself off? Chaos? Perhaps some honest self-reflection? Well said my brother, well said.
At one point my brother and I bought my great grandmother's house, and there was an old International Harvester deep freezer out in the garage. There were things in it my great grandfather hunted before he had died and hotdogs older than I was. While that was a little extreme they never ran out of money or food either.
Life is not harder than it used to be, it is only more complex. It seems harder now because they had been through so much that they made the post war era look easy.
Agree that life is not harder now. Maybe it isn't even more complex, maybe we have made it so by having unrealistic expectations and by being isolated from each other. In every life, some rain must fall. Knowing how to suffer well, preferably in the company of others who also know how to suffer well or with the help of others who did suffer well, may be the key to persevering and prevailing.
So very fortunate that my children were very close to my parents who lived in the same neighborhood. When my mother passed, my son was holding her hand.
I raised my children Catholic and brought them with me when I was a pastoral minister to the sick and homebound.
I pray they will have those conversations with my grandchildren. I pray I live long enough to have some of those conversations with my grandchildren
I’m 34 and I’m still lucky enough to have both my paternal grandparents and stay in constant contact with them despite living on the other side of the country. They lived lives in rural Maine as homesteaders and carpenters. Their parents were in WWII.
Fast forward and I was born into a life they could never had dreamed of. I went to prep school, college, and had every advantage in life.
But I was lucky and learned a lot from them growing up on their farm while my parents worked. I realized that they grew up living lives of intention. They had to. Everything they did and every action they took was with intention because their lives and their family’s lives depended on it.
And thanks to them and the lessons they taught me, I left my corporate job in the city and began homesteading in the PNW. I live off the grid, raise livestock, and farm. They think I’m crazy and tell me they’d never go back to that life. But I wouldn’t trade this for anything.
It’s funny how the grass is greener on the other side. They couldn’t imagine not having a grocery store or proper plumbing now while I couldn’t imagine having to go back to grocery shopping and paying for organic meat when I can raise it myself.
I don’t know where I’m going with all this but it’s helped me reflect on my relationship with my grandparents. Thank you for this article! So much wisdom and insight in it!
My grandparents, great aunts and uncles, could do anything. So could my mother and father, aunts and uncles. My mom, at 93, still can. I recall my dad and I working on my first car back in the 70s, an old Chevy Nova. You could do all the maintenance yourself in those days…change the spark plugs, replace the air filter, even rebuild the engine. Cars are so complicated today that you can’t do it on your own anymore if you want to. Almost daily I wish I could ask my dad how to do this or that. Sometimes I can figure it out, sometimes I can’t.
Oh, I love this. My mother and daddy were both boomer but he definitely had more traits of silent. He built our house in the 70’s and kept all our cars running; could fix anything in his workshop. My parents were precious and I miss him so; she’s not the same without him. They started dating at 14. They got to influence for good 14 grands.
It is the best! I wanted a window in our old house and he just cut a hole and put one in for me:), rebuilt the engine in my car, built our children a tree house and a doll house. Both my boys are handy too; so thankful they got the interest as my husband will do what he needs to but definitely not his interest. My oldest son, 28, and his wife are redoing their older home now. I enjoy your stack. Thank you for writing.
They were also raging racists and hated everyone who didn’t look or act like them. They performed unnecessary lobotomies on those that had mental health issues and put their nose down to anyone they saw as different. Many of them abused their children and spouses that is sickening.
While we should learn the good. We should also understand their mistakes and the hatred they harbored for no reason other to make themselves feel superior.
If you read the piece I specifically mentioned not repeating the mistakes of the past, but did not feel the need to enumerate them to make myself feel superior through the vice of presentism.
Botulism isn’t an issue with home canning any more than it is with store-bought canned goods. I’m pretty sure it’s actually less common. Backwoods Home (I think? I picked it up at Tractor Supply a few weeks ago) has a tea good article on the risk of botulism in home canning in their current issue, if you’re curious.
I am a boomer and every single thing you mentioned in your excellent essay is true. Right down to Grandma Zu reusing tin foil. I wonder what would happen if for 24 hours every 'smartphone on the planet turned itself off? Chaos? Perhaps some honest self-reflection? Well said my brother, well said.
At one point my brother and I bought my great grandmother's house, and there was an old International Harvester deep freezer out in the garage. There were things in it my great grandfather hunted before he had died and hotdogs older than I was. While that was a little extreme they never ran out of money or food either.
"More than anything what those people knew how to do that most of us have forgotten is how to suffer well." That resonated with me.
Thank you for the beautiful description of the way of life in an earlier time.
Life is not harder than it used to be, it is only more complex. It seems harder now because they had been through so much that they made the post war era look easy.
Agree that life is not harder now. Maybe it isn't even more complex, maybe we have made it so by having unrealistic expectations and by being isolated from each other. In every life, some rain must fall. Knowing how to suffer well, preferably in the company of others who also know how to suffer well or with the help of others who did suffer well, may be the key to persevering and prevailing.
We miss my parents every day. . .
Try to have the conversations you wish you had with your parents with your children.
So very fortunate that my children were very close to my parents who lived in the same neighborhood. When my mother passed, my son was holding her hand.
I raised my children Catholic and brought them with me when I was a pastoral minister to the sick and homebound.
I pray they will have those conversations with my grandchildren. I pray I live long enough to have some of those conversations with my grandchildren
I am the silent generation. But I am not silent AT ALL.
Perhaps that's why I still bitch and moan
Can see all the errors being made and try to tell them.
NO ONE LISTENS
Write it, Elsie. Write it so they can see.
I’m 34 and I’m still lucky enough to have both my paternal grandparents and stay in constant contact with them despite living on the other side of the country. They lived lives in rural Maine as homesteaders and carpenters. Their parents were in WWII.
Fast forward and I was born into a life they could never had dreamed of. I went to prep school, college, and had every advantage in life.
But I was lucky and learned a lot from them growing up on their farm while my parents worked. I realized that they grew up living lives of intention. They had to. Everything they did and every action they took was with intention because their lives and their family’s lives depended on it.
And thanks to them and the lessons they taught me, I left my corporate job in the city and began homesteading in the PNW. I live off the grid, raise livestock, and farm. They think I’m crazy and tell me they’d never go back to that life. But I wouldn’t trade this for anything.
It’s funny how the grass is greener on the other side. They couldn’t imagine not having a grocery store or proper plumbing now while I couldn’t imagine having to go back to grocery shopping and paying for organic meat when I can raise it myself.
I don’t know where I’m going with all this but it’s helped me reflect on my relationship with my grandparents. Thank you for this article! So much wisdom and insight in it!
You do not need to have a point. It is ok just to post wins.
My grandparents, great aunts and uncles, could do anything. So could my mother and father, aunts and uncles. My mom, at 93, still can. I recall my dad and I working on my first car back in the 70s, an old Chevy Nova. You could do all the maintenance yourself in those days…change the spark plugs, replace the air filter, even rebuild the engine. Cars are so complicated today that you can’t do it on your own anymore if you want to. Almost daily I wish I could ask my dad how to do this or that. Sometimes I can figure it out, sometimes I can’t.
Even when I was coming up we did most of it ourselves with a Chilton's or Haynes manual and a trip to NAPA.
Another great POV. I read this with my coffee before heading to the little church down the road this morning. God bless you.
Enjoy your Sunday.
Oh, I love this. My mother and daddy were both boomer but he definitely had more traits of silent. He built our house in the 70’s and kept all our cars running; could fix anything in his workshop. My parents were precious and I miss him so; she’s not the same without him. They started dating at 14. They got to influence for good 14 grands.
My dad was also quite handy.
It is the best! I wanted a window in our old house and he just cut a hole and put one in for me:), rebuilt the engine in my car, built our children a tree house and a doll house. Both my boys are handy too; so thankful they got the interest as my husband will do what he needs to but definitely not his interest. My oldest son, 28, and his wife are redoing their older home now. I enjoy your stack. Thank you for writing.
They were also raging racists and hated everyone who didn’t look or act like them. They performed unnecessary lobotomies on those that had mental health issues and put their nose down to anyone they saw as different. Many of them abused their children and spouses that is sickening.
While we should learn the good. We should also understand their mistakes and the hatred they harbored for no reason other to make themselves feel superior.
If you read the piece I specifically mentioned not repeating the mistakes of the past, but did not feel the need to enumerate them to make myself feel superior through the vice of presentism.
Missed that part of the conclusion. Glad you mentioned that. many people swing one way or the other with this sort of thing. great article!
Botulism isn’t an issue with home canning any more than it is with store-bought canned goods. I’m pretty sure it’s actually less common. Backwoods Home (I think? I picked it up at Tractor Supply a few weeks ago) has a tea good article on the risk of botulism in home canning in their current issue, if you’re curious.
*really good
Fair enough 🙂 If you’re interested in the article, it’s in Backwoods Home Magazine Oct/Nov/Dec 2024 issue. You may be able to get it at your library.
I have never been there actually, it is about 35 minutes away, maybe when it reopens for the season.
And stories are how you keep someone alive after they die.