Olga

April 05, 2017  •  11 Comments

She absolutely hates pictures,

she's also a very private person,

and even though she's looked the same my whole life,

she hates talking about anything to do with age. 

So I'm sure you can imagine why her agreeing to let me write about

her on my blog is kind of a big deal.

She even dug out some old pictures for me.

We talked about how it was growing up and what made

 her the person she is today.

Meet my Grandma.

Growing Up:

"For us, it wasn't as easy as it is for everybody else these days.

We had to watch out for ourselves.

I don't think we ever had a Christmas tree.

Father and Mother were from Mexico,

and back then Los Gringos, you know.

We were poor people and most everybody here owned all of the stores

and their kids were the kids whose fathers owned the stores.

Of course we didn't have the clothes, the shoes, or the hairdos they did.

Back then there were only a few other Mexican families and none of us were rich families;

we worked in the fields.

At times we went to pick tomatoes because we weren't old enough to work.

   

Mother and Father:

Father was a great man -he was very considerate.

He came across the border, from Michoacán, in 1929 and never went back.

Mother was born there, but raised here,

 and she was really something, man.

She learned how to do things herself -she even taught herself to drive in the fields. 

They didn't know English, but Mother started to speak it.

Father understood it, and even read the paper, but he just didn't understand everything 

and he just never spoke it."

I asked what she meant by them having to watch out for themselves.

Their mother died when she was thirteen and she says:

"You know when the train killed Mother, it's so weird,

but we never talked about it.

Nobody got together to talk about anything.

Everyone just kept to themselves.

 Isn't that awful?

I don't know why, but we just did.

I guess we just tried to block it out.

You know what's funny though? 

We always lived pay check to pay check

but we never asked for welfare, nor did we even think about it.

We kept to ourselves. We didn't associate with anyone. We were kind of like cavemen or hillbillies,

she laughs, but I don't want to compare myself to no dang hillbilly.

 There was nobody to tell us anything. We didn't ask no questions.

In school I was a quiet person, I would not talk. I would rather take a zero than talk.

I only had 2 or 3 friends that I might call friends because they were poor like we were.

All of the other kids were the kids of the people who owned all of the stores,

and of course we were looked down on us because we were poor.

I dropped out in the 10th grade to work; I kind of had to.

The twins even dropped out in the 11th grade to work.

The only one who graduated was, Rafael."

Work:

"I started working in the fields here and there when I was young, 

then the potato farm before I went to the factory.

Then in my twenties, when Elizabeth was born

I worked in the factory and I worked there in the same place

for 40+ years until I retired."

The Stories:

"You know what Mother would do?

They used to sell big flour bags for tortillas that were made out of cotton material, 

and when she got done with the sacks she would wash them all up and make dresses for us.

Either that or she would make sheets, even if she had to put them together.

They were always clean, but they were all patched up. She would make different designs with them.

Can you imagine us going to school with a dress made out of a flour sack?

And we wondered why people from the stores didn't talk to us", she laughs. 

"But we didn't think anything about it.

We were clean, but poor.

We never had a rug so Maria and I would get down on the floor with our hands and knees and wax it.

Mother was that way. We were clean people.

It wasn't even wax, but that shiny oil, she laughs.

I don't know why? We could slip and fall and break our dang necks just so the floors could be shiny.

We couldn't even walk good on it, but at least the floors were clean!

Also, you will never guess

what we use to love to do on Saturdays.

We use to love to go to the dump.

It used to be above ground and we would go through all of the junk.

We would find dolls, purses, and one time I found a ring that had a blue stone.

I had it forever, I don't know what happened to it.

We looked forward to going there on Saturdays", she laughs.

"And when we went swimming...

 we had a long driveway that was about a half a block long

and on the right side there was a field that had a little dip so when it rained

we would go swimming in that muddy water in the cornfield,

she laughs. Isn't that something? 

We would go swimming in that dirty little water in the cornfield?"

She pauses and add's shortly after, "and we didn't know how TO SWIM.

AND, when we had an ice cream cone,

you will never believe how we had an ice cream cone.. 

When it snowed one time, we went out and found the clean part of the snow, 

put it in a glass and put sugar over it. That was our ice cream cone.

 We probably never knew what an ice cream cone was.

That's why I say, you do what you can,

and that was good enough for us." 

Her Strength:

I asked her where she got her strength from.

She said she just got it from the life they had.

"Not being spoiled with everything and having to do with what we had

or what we didn't have. Put it that way. 

One time we lived in a house that didn't even have a bathroom,

but because of the way mother and father were, the farmers really liked mother and father.

The farmers built us a brand new outhouse.

The farmers, they were good people.

Everyone liked Mother and Father because of they way 

they were, they cleaned up really well,

cleaned up all of the weeds."

The cultures:

"It's so funny because the gringos would say; 'well we are going to eat steaks',

and everyone would get their steaks you know,

but us Mexicans, we would buy one and cut it up." 

She laughs, "and we were lucky if we even got one steak.

Then we would fry it up, add onions and tomatoes sauce or mix it up with potatoes

and make it Mexican style, you know?"

Her Advice:

I asked what advice she would give readers.

" You do what you are able to do in every situation.

You do what you can with what you got.

...And you can't miss what you never had, you know? "

   


Comments

Lisa Chavers(non-registered)
Wow! Thank you for sharing this special family story! Your family has a legacy of: love, hard work, integrity, ambition and vision. I respect that a lot.
Sandra Friess(non-registered)
What a beautiful tribute to a very strong and wise woman! ❤
Erik Schuette(non-registered)
That was the best story. I love my aunt Olga. She is the most kindest person you ever meet. She will always have a special place in my heart ❤️
Donna Garza(non-registered)
How I feel about this AWESOME WOMAN SHE WAS
MY PRODEJE I WANTED TO BE LIKE HER she is a wonderful ❤️ kinda hearted my mom LOVE HER SO MUCH SHE WILL ALWAYS HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART ❤️ proud to have her as my AUNT MANY BLESSINGS AUNT OLGA LOTS OF HUGGS FOREVER YOUR NIECE DONNA ❤️
Dawn(non-registered)
I love her soooo much! Thanks for sharing part of your life with us Olga! Who's crying? I'm not...lol
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