Well, I'm pretty sure it's morning, although I'm also pretty sure I wish it was still night and I was still asleep.

Long day yesterday, and am shifting to a new summer schedule....up most of the night and sleep during the heat of the afternoon...hopefully.

Took on a foster kitten last night....first one, so will see how that goes... his feral mother was killed and he is about 4 weeks old, have in the Arizona room with one of my cats that is nursing her 8 week old twins....the only unfixed cat I have, and of course she had babies for the first time this year.

But, I digress.....

Thinking allot about Mum and her tales of growing up recently. She was another child of the depression, but that was just naturally to those kids....nobody had much, but they seemed to make the best of what they did have. You worked hard, but so did everyone.....even with the depression, people still had more than their parents had had and were significantly better off than their grandparents had been.

A lot is made today of the illegal immigrants here in the US, and I will talk more about that another time. Can you imagine though, what the legal immigrants of the late 1800's had to cope with ? For one thing, they had probably never even seen a picture of America, much less seen it on TV. All they had was word of mouth, or maybe letters from a distant relative or friend. An arduous voyage across the North Atlantic stuffed in very small space with literally hundreds of other people......the terror of Ellis Island, who stays, who goes....your 7 year old son tests positive for TB.....decide, stay in America to make a future, without your son...or back to the old country to a life of poverty. The Streets of New York a massive crush of humanity that is speaking (probably shouting) a dozen languages all at once. Your family is clutching a few small valises, all your possessions. You're not sure, but think you have a new last name, because the harried clerk at immigration didn't speak your native German, Latvian, Russian, Swedish, French, Gaelic, and did the best he could.

Finding your second cousin Rudolf is of prime importance...holding fast to a torn and tattered envelope that has his address on it....you are one of the lucky ones....you're from Germany and are able to read and write, most new arrivals don't have that bonus. After asking half a dozen strangers and getting rebuffed because of the language barrier, you see a man in a uniform. A bluff and gruff Irishman (who if you're very lucky doesn't hate Krauts) will read the street address of cousin Rudolf in Brooklyn...pointing you in that direction he is able to convince you to start walking north......Chances are you don't have the money for a cart or bus ride....so you trudge all the way across the vast island of Manhattan...stopping every so often to get more directions...another bit of luck, is you run across quite a few German speakers...before World War One, German was the second language of the United States.....actually, as a side note....after the Revolution there was a great debate on wether German or English would be the official language....we were evenly divided between the two languages and cultures.

Anyway, after a day long trip with your little family, you arrive at Rudolph's little home to be greeted with open arms and a small celebration.....family is family.....within a week you are working as a cabinet maker in a small shop, your wife is cooking in a small delicatessen and little Sigmund (the 7 year old that actually didnt test positive) is selling new papers on a the corner outside a paint factory....tiny Ingrid is in the care of a good German Hausfrau in the neighborhood....with the three of you working and toiling all the hours that God gives you....after just a few months you are able to move into a small 4th story walk up in the Bronx... Two years later you have scrimped and saved enough to send money to The Rhineland and bring over your Uncle and Aunt. It's now 1900 you've been working long hard 12 hours days, 6 of them a week...no vacations no holidays... you know enough English to get by, your wife a little more.....little Sigmund is quite fluent now, and Ingrid who is in the 3rd grade has almost no German accent..you are so proud of your children....a third child has been added, baby Joseph.....the first true American in your family....Sigmund is learning how to repair clocks and watches.....you are a Foreman at a small furniture factory.. 1905....you have almost killed yourself with hard work but now are set enough to take a Holiday with the family into the wilds of Massachusetts (where do they get these strange names?)...you love the peace and tranquility of the area. The beauty of the woods reminds you of the Bavaria of your youth. 1910.....you have saved enough to leave Brooklyn and move to a little town in Massachusetts. In the German section of South Gardner you open a little pool hall and in the shed out back make fine wooden chairs and tables. Your children are successful baby Joseph grows up to be the manager of a machine company, his children are even more successful.....an entrepreneur who owns a packaging company and another who is President of a major corporation.

The land of opportunity ... indeed.

But, dear reader.....could you have done it?

Could, after loosing everything in a fire...you have placed a wife and 3 children in a box car and gone to the wild wild west to start over.....build farm working 7 days a week from before dawn until after sunset? Raise 5 children to be successful small businessmen and women...good Christian family people?

We will never have the slightest idea of the struggles and fears our parents and their parents knew....but we can honor them and respect them for what they did.

Later folks....