#and that YOUR grandpa didn't install half the telephones in the county?

[bleakbluejay]

maybe it's just bc i was raised by a woman who grew up a farm girl during the Great Depression but i just don't understand how people don't use things until they're unusable -- wearing clothes until they fall off and are too threadbare to repair anymore, don't finish their plates (and even more heinous, don't store leftovers and instead opt to throw leftovers away entirely), don't force their old car to run far past the end of its life, don't keep their shoes until they can feel every pebble through the worn-down soles, don't keep their electronics with the glitchy screens until the picture becomes unusable or the damn thing doesn't turn on anymore. we used to fill near-empty bottles of soap and shampoo with water to try to help them last longer. we used to count the exact number of toilet paper squares we used. the living room couch i grew up with was already old and full of holes by the time i was born, and we kept it near 20 years more.it is such a striking cultural difference comparing my family and how we descend and behave from the arms of my great-grandmother and our matriarch, to other people's families that didn't struggle the same, or didn't keep their elders in close enough proximity to be affected by their history. how well did you know your grandparents? did you ever meet your great-grandparents, or hear stories about them?