When Times Were Tough and When They Weren't

My father grew up a tad below the poverty line. He and his family "did without." In later years, he"did with." Traveling the path of extravagance, he collected toys, gadgets, stuff. How he'd have loved smart phones, computers! He might have been a geek! Despite his "did with" later years, he never forgot what it was like to be poor. He simply could not waste food. He ate the leftovers from the day before for breakfast. Long before doggie bags appeared, my father would ask waiters and waitresses to wrap what he hadn't eaten for his parakeet. We didn't, of course, have a parakeet. Rather than forbidding me to experiment with the concoction of recipes, he ate my creations. When I was five, I made fudge out of cocoa, peanut butter, confectioner's sugar, and flour. I wasn't permitted to light the stove, so the flour in the fudge was not cooked. My father ate it.

My mother grew up above the poverty line, but she thought she was poor because her father didn't have a job. Her father's boyhood in Ireland had been grim. He and his family lived in a primitive cottage. He walked twelve miles to and from school. He had a cold potato for lunch. Yum! The British wouldn't let the Irish kids go to school beyond the equivalent of our sixth grade, but Grandfather learned how to read, write, and keep track of money. That was enough for him to know. When he came to this country, he was a hod carrier. The Old Baguette hasn't the foggiest idea of what hod carriers did. Apparently, they worked hard for small change. Not exactly a career. Grandfather was too ambitious to remain a hod carrier. Like many another immigrant in our country's past and like many now, he worked his way up the economic ladder, speculating in futures, buying farms, and accumulating cash. He did have an office.. While others managed his farms, he went to his office and read philosophy, theology, and Irish history. On his way home for dinner, he'd make a detour to the railroad yards. He'd round up the hobos, sometimes as many as twenty at a time, and bring them home for dinner. The family and the hobos ate together in the dining room. Grandmother cooked, cooked, cooked, and cooked without complaint. Apparently, she remembered that her Irish family wasn't exactly "Lace Curtain." What did the children think? They were ambivalent at the time. The guests told great stories, but after dinner the kids had to do the dishes. What do the grandchildren think? The Old Baguette is not at all ambivalent. She thinks her grandparents were quite amazing, albeit quirky. She is delighted that she can remember that her father was quirky, albeit amazing. She is grateful that her mother pulled amazing and quirky stories out of her vast collection of stories and shared them with her. She is also grateful for the invention of the dishwasher.