The First Life Story

The first elderly women I was able to talk to and get to a more personal level was a lady named Ms. Henry.

Ms.Henry's childhood I asked her if she remembered any historical movements or something that really stood out in her generation. She recalled the Great Depression as being one of the most visual memories she holds. When the Great Depression hit many people lost their jobs and homes due to the economical chaos going on. Her family in particular was different, although it still burdened them it had no real effect other than they had to be more careful with the food they ate and they were only able to get shoes at intervals of a couple months. As a child her parents hid the real dangers of this time period but the neighbors all helped one another out by serving meals potluck style and sharing whatever they had. Her house was small but modern and she was the youngest in the family. They had a dog who she adored growing up they were in animal terms the best of friends.
She recalls a funny memory when the family put in a dog gate so their dog couldn't get out but the gate was too high for her to reach so she would be stuck in the backyard until someone came by and unlocked it. Her father eventually remade the lock so she would be able to reach it on her tipi-toes. Ms. Henry also wanted to know if math was still studied at schools because she said that was the hardest subject; thus, should be taught only by great professors who would not get upset if the students did not know the answers like she had in school.

Jumping ahead to her career she joined the church for their service of spreading the Lord's message and she loved it. She trained to become a nun in her church. I asked her if she wanted to become anything else since nun is a very uncommon thing for this generation to hear about, but she said that was her dream she always had and set out to become one. Before she was able to go through with the training to become a nun however, she became a teacher for seven years. She had a passion for creativity and she said children were the best way to see it with the light-bulb moments in their lives. After seven years of teaching she moved on to execute her real dream of working for the church.
Ms. Henry passed her testing and became a nun after a few years. She said although her father was an atheist and mother being a Catholic she wanted to join the church since on her own accords due to her connection she had with her faith. This upset her father and he essentially disowned her from the family; yet, the mother continued to support her through the trials in her life. This is why she said she became as it is called a "mamma's girl" since the moral support only came from one parent.
Then she was a nun her entire life and talked about the amazing trips to France and across America she went on for missionary work. She said her favorite thing was to see a small town church in France because it had beautiful mosque work done to the windows and every design was incredible to see.

The funniest thing was I asked her if nuns were allowed to marry, see she wore a simple wedding band on her right ring finger which can only mean one thing. She proves me wrong by saying, "Oh NO! We aren't allowed to marry that is a big no no, but this ring is for the Lord. See I am married to him." I think it was one of those in the moment type of innocent giddy that made it so wonderful. The way she said it made it seem as if she has never been asked that question previously to me. All in all her life was made up of very small dear moments that although she had a lot of trouble recalling once she was able to it made her seem younger. At the end of my visit we painted roses and she told me about the upcoming visits of her sister that she was excited about. I even tried showing her some of todays top hits with some music top charts and she said they all had nice beats but she did not understand what they were saying, which I thought was cute and accurate in todays fast lingo-type instrumentals. She was a great lady and I am glad I was able to meet with her and get to know a past generation a little bit more.
And that was the life of one lady who I am glad I was able to meet for her lesson for the younger generations was to do what you like even if you stand alone by it. If you think it is your passion then do it. And I think that means a lot especially since everyone is so tied up with stress and the future when all you have to do is think about the goodness in life and explore your passion.