#i was a military brat (both parents in the navy) and disabled
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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?
#eli talks#i was a military brat (both parents in the navy) and disabled#so i spent most of my time at home with my great-grandmother and her son my grandpa#nana and papa :)#or i guess i just call him pop now#spending time with my nana and pop was SO vital to me as a kid#in my childhood memories and in my upbringing and in my values and habits#i even caught my nana's rural Canadian accent. despite living in southern California#so bizarre is it to me that this isnt everyone else's experiences#what do you MEAN you didn't live with your papa? with your nana?#what do you MEAN you didn't watch Who Wants To Be A Millionaire with a 89yo woman while she fed u lemon pudding and talked about the 40s#what do you MEAN you weren't fed fucked up Great Depression era food that makes you feel nostalgic for childhood now?#what do you MEAN you didn't grow up hearing how this whole town was just orchards and woodland up until just a few decades ago#and that YOUR great-grandpa didn't build half the old houses in town#and that YOUR grandpa didn't install half the telephones in the county?#i think being so disconnected from your grandparents n great-grandparents like that also like... disconnects you from history#how recently planes became commonplace or electricity found their way in all homes across america#you could have a relative alive RIGHT NOW that used a telegraph. that had to walk several miles home from school.#have you spoken to them? can you still speak to them?
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