Raising Another Generation

My husband Bob and I were married in October, l939. We rented an apartment for $30.00 a month. Doesn't sound like very much but then it was a lot of money for us as we had a combined income of $25.00 a week. We ate a lot of hamburgers and toasted cheese sandwiches. Someone got us a sandwich toaster for a wedding present. We had to watch our pennies but money isn't that important when you are first married as you just know things will work out and some day you will have a good job and a nice car and a beautiful home. Well, let me tell you, those things don't come easy but as you work toward that goal things do become easier. The depression was not a good time to be starting out but because of the depression we were cautious about how much we spent and if we had enough money to pay for it if we lost out jobs. We also were able to buy our first home for $1,500.00 and nothing down. The banks had many properties that had been r epossed and they were trying to get rid of them. We were lucky. We did some remodeling and eleven years later we sold it for a nice profit.

Two years after we moved into the house we had our first child, Bonnie. What a delight she was to the whole family . She was the first grandchild on both sides of the family. She was the first great grandchild on the maternal side and had 3 great grandmothers. Terry our son was born four years later and we were in the hospital the day Franklin Roosevelt died. We had gone through World War ll , the rationing of many food items, gas, and to buy these items that were rationed we had our rationing books and had to have stamps for each thing we bought that was rationed. We did a lot of walking to save gas. If we wanted to go to town we didn't drive , we walked. We were healthier for it. The economy was getting better as people were being called back to work. In 1948 I found I was pregnant with our third child, Beth. It was a difficult pregnancy as I was ill most of the nine months. She was a tiny little baby but healthy. Our three children were such a blessing. God had showered His blessings on us. We came through a depression, a war, and the birth of three children. Next time I will tell you about the struggles all new parents go through raising a child.