During the Depression my folks moved many times. At one point they found themselves living in a coal shed. It was tiny and dirty. My father and mother worked and worked to clean it up to make it livable. He took kerosene and washed the walls of the old shed to get the coal dust off the walls. When Mom told me this story, I thought, “Fire” immediately, but be that as it may.
Mom and Dad finally had it cleaned as well as they could and moved their meager belongings into it.
The shed was only big enough for a bed and a little table. The conditions in which they lived is beyond my imagination. I think they loved each other so much that nothing could have dissuaded them from forging ahead and believing in God that He would take care of them.
My grandparents helped too by sending them beef that they had butchered by train. I can’t understand how that beef was safe to eat, but it was. Mother said that the package of beef they received was a Godsend.
They had just moved into the shed (which was free rent, by the way) and had gone to sleep. Mom said all of a sudden Dad yelled out, “You S.O.B. you bit me!!. He jumped out of bed and of course, so did my mom. He told her that a bedbug had bitten him. In the middle of the night, they tore their bed apart, moved it outside, and once again, the kerosene was used to wash the bed.
The mattress had to be bleached and air dried in the sun. Mom said that Dad would not go back to bed until he had inspected every inch of that bed.
Over the years, my mom and dad moved frequently to get just a few more cents a day.
The farm house was old and drafty, but clean. The first house in town, was spotless and on it went. Their final home was a mobile home in South Sioux City, Nebraska. It was a beautiful home, with custom made drapes, carpeting, etc. What a change a few years makes and a lot of love and trust in each other. I never heard my father swear, Mom said he did…once.
Loved it. Thank you for sharing
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