Blog post 3

            

         “Growing up isn’t always easy and when you have a dad in the military it’s even worse. “ My boyfriend of 3 years hasn’t always had the easiest life especially being a military brat as he calls it. He grew up in several various places in California and went to over 7 different schools out there not counting the ones that have been in Ohio. 

            While growing up in California he got to go to Disney land, six flags etc but he says, “It was nothing to walk down from his house and enjoy the beaches and see the sea life in the water splashing around.” Unfortunately, but since he was always moving from military base to another one he didn’t always get to go down to the beach as often as he had liked. He never had a chance to make any friends either because he was always moving around.

            After his dad had retired from the military they decided to move to where his mother was from which is Ohio. Where he attended Harrison Central for 2 years until they decided to move to Dover. When they moved to Dover he had decided to go to Buckeye Career Center and take up landscaping.  There’s a story he always tells me about the one day he was out front at Buckeye and was moving the law, and as he was the moving the law the Performing Arts Center had collapses         while the workers where working on it. When I asked him how he felt about it all he could say was he was extremely shocked at what he had witness and he didn’t know what to do at that point in time.

            I believe it’s good to hear a story from someone that’s not from this state or around here but had manages to find his way around here. Thanks to him we have a beautiful daughter and a beautiful life started out for us.  I think not to many people saw the PAC center fall while it was being built which it’s always interesting to see someone else’s point of view and I enjoy hearing of the things he got to enjoy as a child in California.

Blog Post 3: A Humble Beginning

My Grandma

Not everyone has the same upbringing. That is what makes us so unique. Our many different diversities shape us into who we are today. My biggest role model did not have the happiest, most luxurious upbringing. In fact, it was a very humbling upbringing. My biggest role model is my Grandma, Judy Williams.

Over a cup of coffee (or maybe several cups), my Grandma and I dove into some of her childhood memories. Some good and some not so good. One memory that is such a sweet one to hear is that of her freshman year homecoming.

My Grandma on her wedding day at age 19
Just 4 years after her Freshman year

She was fifteen years old and a freshman at Dennison High. Her home life was not the greatest. There was no money but her family was full of hard working people. “We didn’t ask for anything but, we were proud of everything we worked for”, she told me. She was always a little bit insecure about not having a lot of money. My Grandma has told me numerous times about the fact that she only had a few dresses and a couple of pairs of socks growing up. I’m sure that was not an easy thing to deal with while being in high school.

It was football season and time for the big homecoming. Students were to vote on who would represent their class as the 1956 Homecoming Attendant. Much to her surprise, Judy Williams was voted freshman class attendant! While to some, this would be an honor, to her it was a stress. The class attendants were to walk across the football field at the homecoming game in their nicest attire. That was the problem… She did not have anything nice to wear.

Homecoming week came and a kind neighbor of my Grandma allowed her to borrow one of their daughters’ dresses for the big night. “This was a really humbling time for me because I felt popular enough to be the homecoming attendant but I had to borrow my dress! It was an honor and at the time, an embarrassment”, she said.

I take so much from this story. It shows that money does not always matter most to people. She had no money, yet students felt she deserved the freshman homecoming attendant award. Character and kindness truly can speak louder than money can. I am so glad she was voted the attendant. She deserves that honor every day, if I could give it to her.

Blog 3

Blog 3 

I made the decision to talk to my parents for this blog and the reason is because they are the best people I knew of to tell about stories about the past that were about were in the area were my parents. I didn't know what exactly to ask about or what kind of stories I wanted to hear so I simply asked if they had any stories about her past.

My parents (2015)  

She talked a lot about when she was kid and how different everything was and what it was like to live in New Phila back then and on a farm. She focused comparing on then and now. She put heavy emphasis on how connected people were to their community members. She told how when she was young and lived in town every day she would go around with the other kids to the park or to the store or to each other’s house. She said “one mom was everybody's mom”, “any mom would spank you or tell you what to do.” She told how nobody had fences and how everybody sat on their porches and talked to their neighbors. Not everybody was independent and keeping to themselves. In addition to that everybody tended to have their own gardens even in the city and do whatever they could to support themselves for free. When she was young and lived in New Phila they still had a milkman that would bring milk in a horse drawn carriage and she said, “All the kids would run out to pet Dewie (the horse) every time he came.”

I really like all that she told me, and it made me really think of possible ways to make our current communities more connected like they once were.  The kids and the adults. Kids today in towns and cities do connect and hang out in groups but there isn't a special sense of community between families and neighbors like there once was.

My dad told similar stories though his were a lot more mischievous. He told stories about the things he did with his friends when he was young. Things like playing stickball in the street and playing the cards on the bus to school. There were also things like hiding and throwing tomatoes at cars driving by at night. Things that would have surely gotten them in trouble had their parents found out. He also told a story about the small jobs he would do in the summer. Lawn mowing was something he did and between each yard he would push the lawn mower to the gas station and fill it up for the next lawn. One year to pay for a vacation he and his brothers spent months collecting thrown out bottles and cashing them in for the few cents they were worth.

The stories from both are similar and paint the same picture of how much more connected everyone was in the past and committed functioned with far less outside help. I think these stories are important because, yes, we live in a different world today but that doesn't mean it can’t have the good aspects from ways of the past. I know that I would've liked to grow up in a hybrid society of then and now but I didn't but that doesn't mean my future children can’t. I hope one day we can again achieve a community with much more communication.

Summer of 1950-1960

Summer in the 1960's

Summer vacation experience's are different for every person. My grandfather Donald Scott grew up in the 1950-1960's. Donald was one of eight children in his family, four boys and four girls. He lived in East Rochester, Ohio. His family owned a farm and his father owned a mechanic's shop.Graduated from Minvera highschool in 1964. His family was poor but he always had school clothes, food and a roof over his head.

Summer are different today than they were back in the day, my grandfather didn't get exotic vacation he went to Washington D.C and California.  My grandfather told me that he didn't have an exact to preserve but he wants to shows values of the old days. "I wanted children today to respect there elders and work hard for what they want in life",Donald quoted. During Summer it was all work no play. My grandfather said summer he bailed hay, milked cows and gathered eggs. Another job he did was to pick strawberries for just six cents a quart. When my grandfather wasn't working he enjoyed riding bicycles with friends, fishing at the lake and hunting on the farm. Kids than played outside till the street lights came on but that almost seems like a different world.Respect for elders is a value my family taught me your elders deserves the most respect of anyone.

"My dad wore respect around his waist",Donald quoted. So as you soon get to enjoy the nice Summer weather think about the respect our elders deserve for all the hard work they did as a child until they could no longer. Their work ethnic is like no other and something to we children could learn a lot from.

Blog Post #3

Milking Freeport

In 1942 my grandfather Tom Bardall remembers milking cows being only 6 years old. He had his own designated stool. “We each had 6 cows to milk, 36 cows total. My 5 brothers and my father.” He remembers getting up early every day, and they would go to the barn to get their morning chores done. After getting the cows milked, they would carry the milk from the parlor down to the spring house where they would keep the milk cool, until it could be taken around the surrounding town of Freeport, to supply the small community with milk. They were the supplier and had a milk route that was ran.

“Those were hard times for some people, they traded for what they needed or couldn’t afford.” This was a post depression era when the nation was still recovering from the downfall of the economy. My grandpa said that one particular time: “They had their ration of potatoes to feed their family. They had all of the potatoes set out by the manger where the cows were fed and did not think the cows would hurt them, but when they came back the cows had eaten all of the potatoes. That was a particularly hard struggle for the family.”

My grandpa’s job on the milk route was to collect the money. One thing that really caught my attention when my grandpa told me: “One lady that lived in town did not have very much, but gave me some very antique coins. She told me not dare spend them because they would be worth very much one day.” Against his wishes, he had to turn the money in because that was their milk money and used that to live off of. He wonders how much they would be worth almost 75 years later.

This is extremely important to me and the community because my family served such a large part in the Freeport area. I really enjoyed hearing what he had to say.

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Life Is Short

Life is short

The Quite before the storm, The Fun before the Nearly-Fatal

            “I was 3 inches from becoming roadkill” when I first heard these words I went completely numb. My friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, was your average young adult and one day they went to a party that started fun but almost turned fatal. They told me a story of your average bonfire with friends, food, and fun but it quickly turned bad when someone, who my friend says was drunk, and probably on drugs, and started arguing with someone at the party. After a few words were said, or rather yelled, the individual appeared to have left and things returned to normal. 

That’s when fun became nearly-fatal as the individual came back with a car.

The Nearly Fatal Machine

  

This individual was in the passenger side of the car fighting the driver for control of the car and made a b-line towards the party. Luckily enough everyone at the party managed to get out of the way in time, but then he slammed it into reverse and tried again only to hit a few bumps and eventually into a tree. “It went from peace to utter chaos in the drop of a hat. The other guest of the party ,naturally enraged, started hitting on the car trying to get the guy out “All the guys were slamming on this guy’s car and climbing on top of it some girl was in the back of the car with her feet out the back window Luckily she got one foot in before it hit the tree, her other foot was trapped in between the glass and the tree”. Fortunately for everyone ,but this one girl, there were no other serious injuries happened. After this the word “cops” got thrown around according to my friend and everyone scrambled. Luckily for this girl my friend and their friend helped her, she couldn’t walk due to her injuries, into their car and drove her to the hospital, they were in the forest, so they couldn’t call 911. That day my friend did something many people wouldn’t do he wasn’t a bystander. 

I wanted to retell this story to share what my friend learned the hard way that life is short, so we should live it like it could collapse at any moment. Another reason I wanted to share this story is to say don’t be a bystander, odds are if my friend didn’t intervene that girl would have died that day because everyone else was worried about themselves and didn’t notice her and their was no way she could have drove herself.

Blog Post 3

 The Greatest Love Story

What does it mean to be in love? To go through thick and thin with one person right beside you. To dream of being old together and having those specific milestones? To reach 100 and look to your significant other and be like “I made it.” I look at my grandparents, and I realize that I want a love story like theirs. To be able to see my significant other and realize that I made it after all these years.

 

I sat down with my grandparents and asked them “their love story.” It was one of the purest things I could witness from both. To view and see the love they have for each other as they relive the moments is something I won’t forget. My grandpa wasn’t too keen on dating at the time. My grandpa was 21 at the time and was working at Gradall. While he was there, he had to train my grandma’s brother-in-law Bud. They were as close as can be, and of course, he was always trying to set her up with someone. During Christmas, Bud mentioned to my grandpa that he had to buy my grandma a Christmas gift if he was getting one; my grandma got two baby dolls both in blue. One day, while my grandpa was showing Bud around the factory, he asked if he had a girlfriend. My grandpa replied no, and that’s when Bud would tell my grandpa to go on a date with my grandma.

First Married - October 1956

So, they agreed, and a blind date was set up. On March 17th, 1956, my grandpa went to go pick my grandma up. When my grandpa first got there, my grandma said, “Oh my gosh, I’m going out with my grandpa.” The reason she thought this is because he had flannel and jeans with galoshes on. They went out on a Saturday night to Fairfield Grange. This place is the only place they could go dancing and would square dance in the night. When they first got there, my grandpa sat my grandma down and stayed at the pop station because he oversaw it. After about thirty minutes, someone mentioned to my grandpa that he should go back up and dance with her. From there on the rest is history. The got engaged that June and got married on October 6th, 1956.


Following their marriage, they had five kids and up to eleven grandchildren and many more great-grandchildren. When my grandma first got pregnant, they thought they were only going to have one child. But, when she went into labor, they found out they were pregnant with twins. It came as a shock for both and they were scared, but they embraced it and did the best they could. They had their ups and downs like all couples do, but somehow, they made it work.

50th Wedding Anniversary

Then, it’s fifty years later, and my mom has the idea to have them get “remarried.” My grandma laughed at first but then realized that it would be a great idea. They reincorporated almost everything on their 50th wedding anniversary. They went down to the same church, had the same song, and renewed the same vows. As we watched them retake their vows, you could see the admiration and love they had for each other. My grandma just couldn’t believe they made it to fifty years. “Wow, I said to myself. After fifty years we are still here and getting remarried. You never really understood why you would say these vows until you live them. Until you go to renew them and experience them all over again.” They had the same excitement all over again. 

60th Wedding Anniversary

Ten years later and here we are, celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. My mom and I decided that we wanted to do something special to show everyone this love can last. We got everyone together and had a party for them. They gave each other gifts, and again, you can see the love they have for each other. They even got a letter signed by the mayor congratulating them on their 60th anniversary. I asked my grandma how they were able to last this long. She said “You just have to be there with them every step of the way. You can’t go to bed mad. You kiss them and say goodnight. He’s my soulmate and best friend. Wherever he went, I went with him.  He’s my right hand I would always want to walk down the path with him by my side.” 

Not only did this interview allow me to have a glimpse into what it’s like, but it also allowed my grandma to relive every milestone she had. After 62 years of marriage, she still gets choked up when reliving the memories. She knew my grandpa was the one. “There was magic when we first met.” When everyone says that they want a relationship with their grandparents or parents, I finally understand why. The love my grandparents exhibit every day is something I want to experience for myself. Maybe eight years from now they will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.