Tomorrow my great-grandma Grace turns one hundred years old.
One hundred! It's just mind boggling to me to think of all she has lived through.
At the age I am now she was in the thick of the Great Depression living in a log cabin deep in the woods of Minnesota eating off mostly canned vegetables from her garden.
And that's just the tip of it.
Grace was un-expectantly born to an unwed young mother on May 16th, 1913 in a small town in Iowa.
(Pre the days of MTV glorifying teen moms.)
Her mother complained of stomach cramps, was taken to the hospital,
and a few hours later gave birth to Grace.
Almost immediately, Grace's grandmother demanded she be put up for adoption.
A minister from the hospital knew of a family that lived close by who couldn't have children,
so he made arrangements for Grace to be adopted by them, all very hush hush as you can imagine.
Meanwhile... Grace's young father had no idea any of this was happening because he had briefly left the state to take work on a temporary logging assignment.
When he returned a week later and learned of his baby girl Grace who had already been given away,
he asked her mother to marry him and they went to the adoption house to get her back.
The adoption family agreed to give Grace back the following day,
but when her young birth parents returned to pick her up the next day,
the new family had packed up everything and moved in the middle of the night, Grace in tow.
For the next sixteen years Grace's real parents looked for her, while she had no idea they even existed.
Looking back, Grace has said, it now makes sense to her why her adoptive family moved around so much when she was growing up.
She always kind of wondered if they were hiding, when in reality, they were just hiding her.
It wasn't until 1929 when at a county fair with a friend, when Grace would learn the truth.
Simply for the fun of it, she and her friend decided to visit the "See'er" to have their fortunes told.
And it was this See'er, who was obviously a complete stranger I might add,
who revealed to my great-grandma at just sixteen years old, that she was actually adopted.
The truth became certain when Grace returned home and casually mentioned to her parents what had happened at the fair and they instantly became irate and forbid her to go to another fair,
and of course ever visit another See'er.
See'ers were the devils people.
At this point I would probably need an entire blog to fully give my grandma's life story justice
because it goes on to include getting reunited with her sister fifty years later,
a kidnapping with a tragic ending, (with once again the true being revealed by a See'er)
and just so much more of everything else life involves in between.
And yet it's amazing to me how modest my grandma is about herself and her legacy,
she doesn't see anything special about it all.
So to my Great Grandma Grace, I realize you have never been on the internet, or used a cell phone,
or even a computer for that manner,
but I'd like to wish you a happy 100th birthday full of fresh radishes and a cold Miller Light.
I'm only 74 behind you!
One hundred! It's just mind boggling to me to think of all she has lived through.
At the age I am now she was in the thick of the Great Depression living in a log cabin deep in the woods of Minnesota eating off mostly canned vegetables from her garden.
And that's just the tip of it.
Grace was un-expectantly born to an unwed young mother on May 16th, 1913 in a small town in Iowa.
(Pre the days of MTV glorifying teen moms.)
Her mother complained of stomach cramps, was taken to the hospital,
and a few hours later gave birth to Grace.
Almost immediately, Grace's grandmother demanded she be put up for adoption.
A minister from the hospital knew of a family that lived close by who couldn't have children,
so he made arrangements for Grace to be adopted by them, all very hush hush as you can imagine.
Meanwhile... Grace's young father had no idea any of this was happening because he had briefly left the state to take work on a temporary logging assignment.
When he returned a week later and learned of his baby girl Grace who had already been given away,
he asked her mother to marry him and they went to the adoption house to get her back.
The adoption family agreed to give Grace back the following day,
but when her young birth parents returned to pick her up the next day,
the new family had packed up everything and moved in the middle of the night, Grace in tow.
For the next sixteen years Grace's real parents looked for her, while she had no idea they even existed.
Looking back, Grace has said, it now makes sense to her why her adoptive family moved around so much when she was growing up.
She always kind of wondered if they were hiding, when in reality, they were just hiding her.
It wasn't until 1929 when at a county fair with a friend, when Grace would learn the truth.
Simply for the fun of it, she and her friend decided to visit the "See'er" to have their fortunes told.
And it was this See'er, who was obviously a complete stranger I might add,
who revealed to my great-grandma at just sixteen years old, that she was actually adopted.
The truth became certain when Grace returned home and casually mentioned to her parents what had happened at the fair and they instantly became irate and forbid her to go to another fair,
and of course ever visit another See'er.
See'ers were the devils people.
At this point I would probably need an entire blog to fully give my grandma's life story justice
because it goes on to include getting reunited with her sister fifty years later,
a kidnapping with a tragic ending, (with once again the true being revealed by a See'er)
and just so much more of everything else life involves in between.
And yet it's amazing to me how modest my grandma is about herself and her legacy,
she doesn't see anything special about it all.
So to my Great Grandma Grace, I realize you have never been on the internet, or used a cell phone,
or even a computer for that manner,
but I'd like to wish you a happy 100th birthday full of fresh radishes and a cold Miller Light.
I'm only 74 behind you!
