Hope From History
There are definite advantages to having been a quiet child who preferred the company of senior adults to the company of peers. One of these advantages is having heard first hand the stories of my grandparents.
These stories help me remain hopeful in spite of the facts that:
- In December 2008 the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) announced that the United States has been in recession since December 2007.
- Many economists and financial advisors have stated that this recession could be the worst since the Great Depression (1929-1940).
- Many are saying that we may well be heading for a new depression.
I personally can attest to how the economy is impacting my family, business and many personal friends. Some have lost as much as 60% of their investments and others have lost or are in process of losing their jobs and are struggling to find new work or moving to keep jobs that are relocating.
However, I remain hopeful mainly because of faith in God and also because I remember the stories of my grandparents.
During the Great Depression my mother’s father went door to door and sorted through trash bins for used tin cans to sell back so he could buy evaporated milk for his two infant daughters. At the same time his own Finnish mother crocheted and sewed brightly colored “piece work” (aprons, slips, table cloths and doilies) to make money to help keep the family going. Then later as the family grew to include two boys, all six went each summer to farms around Portland, Oregon. They picked hops, green beans and any other produce that was in season just to make enough money to keep food on the table. The girls would move the plump baby brother along the row as they picked making certain to always keep the happy sun-bonneted child within arms’ reach.
At the same time, my paternal grandparents drove cross country in a Model T Ford with three children from Ithaca, New York to the Oregon Coast where a job was waiting in a lumber camp that was owned by my Irish great-grandfather. (The lumber camp was in an area that just a few years later was consumed by the Tillamook Burn.) Some of the dirt roads on that cross country trip were nothing more than elongated mud pits and so Grandpa and Grandma took turns driving the car and laying out plywood planks in front of the tires to drive over. They would then run back behind the car to pick up the planks and move them again to the front of the car and keep driving in this manner until the muddy stretch was passed. Then when they hit dry road the planks were tied to the top of the vehicle until another muddy stretch required their use again. Once the family arrived at the camp the five of them lived in a cabin tent (like those still sold today at Rainier Tents). Decades later Grandma would still say she was so proud because she had the “best tent in camp”. Afterall, it was “the only cabin that had lineoleum flooring” and she kept it “absolutely spotless”.
I also remember hearing the stories from both families regarding friends they made during those difficult times and how faith, friendship, and family got them through episodes of not even knowing how the next meal would be supplied. Friends like a couple who came from the old country (Italy) and later settled in Yamhill County and remained family friends until they passed in their eighties and nineties.
While I know that the economy is in serious trouble, I take comfort in knowing that plucky Americans before me have weathered even more troubled times and that they later remembered those times fondly. I also am confident that if today we keep faithful and continue to support one another and our community, we can carry on and help make an environment where children feel safe and loved.
I sincerely believe that we can move from a position of believing we are entitled to more than we can afford to being thankful for how God, friends and family help us carry on even through what we feel may be the worst of times.
On a lighter note I hope you enjoy the stories of simple pleasures that follow; as pets, cheese and music are comforts even in the worst of times.
Susan McAliley spent much of her art career working in watercolor and pencil as a freelance illustrator for publishers like American Girl, Inc.
Benson’s Best Bites is just the type of store/deli that the southside has been needing for a long time. It is comfortable as Loie and Ezra Benson offer true Mom & Pop service. Plus, the store’s wares are both eye and taste-appealing. The specialty items encourage you to get creative with normally impossible-to-find cooking and baking ingredients. Ezra invites customers to be adventurous with their palates as he offers tastes of exquisite cheeses like the 2008 Paris Fair winning cheese and offers insights to fine foods. Then as you are dining on your choice of specialty handcrafted soups or sandwiches, Loie slips behind you to offer samples of pickles or the 16 varieties of olives that are sold at the store.
Ezra explained how he had originally envisioned a fine cheese and cold cuts counter with other delectable treats for the cook, baker, and eater enthusiasts in the area. If he made a few sandwiches here and there that was fine, but the plan didn’t include sandwich specials. After the recommendations of many customers that he make sandwiches with cold cuts and Havarti, he made a decision. He would make sandwiches with what he calls a Havarti Upgrade*. *(Havarti being one of the “fanciest” cheeses found at most grocery stores was as far and strange as most customers had been in the world of cheese.) However, Ezra sought to take them further and farther into the world of fromage.
Benson’s Best Bites is an eclectic but wonderful store selling everything from gourmet fresh and dried pasta, to spices like saffron and lavendar, to giant hunks of fine cheese or chocolate, to Mexican Coca Cola. And more than just the selling of products, the store and its owners are there to share with you: to share their knowledge and passion of fine food, to share their community involvement (fliers about local events are posted around), and to share their thoughts on the current weather and economic status in the southside.
The store is not the easiest to find as it is located near the back right-hand side of the Manhattan QFC in Normandy Park, but it is worth the trip, well worth it.
Coffee: The World in Your Cup. Learn about what’s in our cup and how it got there. | January 24 – June 7 | Open daily from 10am – 5pm | Burke Museum | Cost: $0 – $9.50 | For more info: 
St. Patrick’s Day Parade: Join or Watch the Parade. The Monorail will be free from 12pm – 3pm for travel from Westlake Park to the Seattle Center | March 14, 12:30pm | For more info: 
While the Suzuki Method was created for preschool-aged students, the Foothills Suzuki Institute uses the Suzuki Method to teach students of all ages and levels.