My grandparents from both sides of my family were hard working. One side was farmers that work from sunrise to sundown and sometimes past. They had crops to protect so at times that meant staying up all night to protect the crops and be ready to start their day all over again at Sunrise. Luckily there were three sons on my dad’s side of the family that helped with the watching of the crops at night. My dad had to quit school at an early age never to receive a high school education. He became a self-taught land grader as well as farmer. He was in demand for the land grading work from the other farmers. I went to work in the fields at the age 12 and that taught me very early about hard work, something that I applied throughout my working career. It led me to a good union job which I will always be very grateful. My other grandparents were hard working as well. That grandfather was a carpenter that worked many long hours with very little pay, but he had a family of 9 children to support. He never turned a job down if there was any way that he could get the job done. My grandmother worked at the hospital many hours to become an LVN in order to help support the family. My mother had to leave school in the 9th grade and self-taught herself the balance of her education. If she had had the opportunities that are available today there is no telling where her education would have led her. She was very smart. She worked her entire life as a waitress or a nurse’s aide. Once again this showed me how important education and hard work counted. To this day I thank both sets of grandparents as well as my father and mother for all that they taught me about hard work and being fair with others. There are lessons to be learned all around us, if we will take the time to watch and understand. I have great love, thanks, and respect my parents and grandparents for the lessons well learned.
