Re-Resolutions

 It's that time again, the beginning of a new year, the time to make those resolutions once again. Myself, I tend to make re-resolutions, same ones over and over, which would be a good thing if I didn't break them before January slips by. Maybe other folks don't do that, make the same resolutions every year, but that seems to be one of my life patterns. I know what's good for me, I know what I'm not doing that I should be doing. I know that the older I get the harder it will be to make changes in my behaviour. Think about it, 70+ years to establish and entrench bad habits - and I'm gonna break them, improve, follow the yellow brick road to achieve good sense?

Ahh, but it's not hopeless. I was a smoker and I quit! Did that (40 some years ago) and that's a tough one. And I've probably lost 100's of pounds in my adult life - but breaking the habits that put those extra pounds on has proven to be more difficult. Watch out you young things with a few extra pounds! When you are an elder it seems like you need about 1/4 of the food you are accustomed to eating. 

When I was young I worked in movie theatres, from age 16 to about 23. Paid my high school tuition, my college fees, got free movies for myself and passes for my friends, a wonderful job with one downside. I acquired the worst eating habits possible. Think what's available to eat at the cinema - popcorn, candy, pop, hot dogs. That was my diet; that formed my habits. Gleep. No excuse though, just a mitigating factor. I have no resolution to lose weight. I know better. But I hope to address what I eat and when, then add water.

I have found an exercise DVD, Scott Cole's "Discover Tai Chi for Balance and Mobility" (available on Amazon). One half hour of movements you'd think are so simple they wouldn't accomplish a thing. But, when your minutes away from 74 years old you'd be amazed at how many simple movements have become not so simple, how tight your body has coiled over the years, and how much these slow exercises can accomplish over time - if you do them! Speaking of doing them, I shall be back in a half hour...

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As often happens, a half an hour became the rest of the day. I want to mention another Scott Cole video. "Tai Chi for Beginners". It's a wee bit more challenging, a graceful, slow series of easily memorized movements that will make your body happy. There's a nice idea, making your body happy. What makes a body happy? Not too hard to figure out - good food as needed, physical movement to keep it supple, sufficient sleep, lack of stress. Hard work, almost idolized by some, can be good too; it can also act like a wrecking ball. I live on a small farm. From reading previous blogs you know we built slowly, when we could, and hard work is no stranger at my door. It's a necessity but over time it can take a toll. There's smart ways to work, and stupid ways. Far too often, because we are in a hurry, because the situation is close to an emergency, because we don't think or simply don't know better, we end up working the stupid way, slowly breaking our bodies down until every movement hurts. If you're young, think about working smart.

My 2017 resolution packet also contains taking time to improve my mandolin playing. There are so many benefits to participation in music - feel good happy times. When I play with a group and it all "comes together" it's an indescribable high and a unique type of connection that only those who make music can understand.

So my 2017 resolutions - be good to my body and my mind. Sounds like a good plan, and a worthy re-resolution.

Happy 2017 to you all!

Orphan Train

I am not a family history buff. I haven't checked out my ancestry to see if I'm descended from royalty. I haven't sent my DNA off to find out if my ancestors hail from a different portion of the globe than I've been led to believe. It's that age old nature versus nurture argument. Although I do believe genetics accounts for much of our make-up, both our physical appearance and our intelligence, I'm more inclined to put a greater emphasis on nurture, that is the effect our environment has upon both of these things. So, who my ancestors were and what they did has never really sparked my interest. Other members of my family, though, have done some research. Because of them I have a copy of my husband's family tree and, on my side of the family, some relatives wrote a little booklet about my Dad's family going back to the time they immigrated to the U.S.A.

 

I do love a historical novel though, and the one I just read, "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline, struck a family history chord for me. It was one of those books I couldn't put down until I was finished. 

Here's a short synopsis of the novel - In the late 1800's and early 1900's orphans were put on a train heading west from New York, then paraded at stops along the rail line in front of prospective "parents", some of whom were just shopping for free labor. Sometimes these  children experienced horrible circumstances in their "adoptive" homes. This work of fiction drew some subtle comparisons between the orphans of that time and the foster children of today. 

The connection to my family? My fraternal grandmother rode that orphan train. Thanks to my aunt, my sister and two cousins, this is what I know about my grandmother Christina's early life. Her birth parents immigrated from Germany in the 1870's and on arrival found deplorable conditions - disease and crime; dirty, noisy, unsafe buildings; very little work to be had with wages too low to support a family. My great grandmother and one of her children contracted Typhoid Fever and died. The other children including Christina were very young and my great grandfather was unable to take care of them.

The children were taken to the New York Foundling Hospital which was run by the Sisters of Charity. In the book "Orphan Train", Niamh, the heroin of the story, was in the care of the Children's Aid Society. Unlike the Children's Aid Society which simply sent children along with no sure prospect of being adopted, the Sisters of Charity sent children by train to pre-approved homes. Christina was sent from New York to Cleveland. The first home she went to turned out to be a disaster. When the agent in charge discovered this he found another home for her. Finally she felt like she belonged to a family. She was now the youngest of 8 children in a happy home. Later, when her adoptive parents died she went to live with her older sister and her brother-in-law. When she was a teen she apprenticed at a dressmaker's shop. There she met her future husband, a mechanic who worked on the Pullman cars on the railroad. She had 11 children, one girl died at birth, another girl died at age four. The remainder lived on to become my two aunts, six uncles, and my Dad.

When asked about her birth family, Christina thought she may have had a brother who went on to Missouri. Records were poor, a fire caused the loss of many, but the National Orphan Train Complex of Kansas named her parents and suggested that she had two sisters, Marie Elizabeth, who went to St. Louis, and Pauline about whom nothing is known. It is not known if this is accurate. Her family history remains a mystery.

Many thanks to my cousin for compiling this information for our family. She goes on to tell stories of our grandmother when she was a young mother which gives me a window into my Dad's early days.

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I downloaded "Orphan Train" from an on-line book club called BookBub.com. Membership is free. You receive a daily e-mail with a listing of Limited Time-Free E-Books & Bargain Ebooks -  Mystery, Romance, Fantasy, How-to, Science Fiction, Biographies, History and more. When you sign-up you are asked to tick off the types of books you like so that suggestions they send will be in line with your reading interests. They can be downloaded onto your device via Apple iBook, Amazon, Kobo or Google. Books that are not free are rarely over $3. Some of the books I've read were not all that great, some were a casual light read, and some, like "Orphan Train" were special.