I know the assignment was ‘First Love’ but the simple truth is I have a project in mind and as I’m not a writer I’m going to write something that has more meaning to me.

The project I’m in the early stage of is a biography of my mothers’ life. Why her life? Simply put because she is my mother and she has been through many life experiences that others may fine of value. Does it have relevance for others in today’s world? I think so. The truth is that we put a different wrapper on pre-existing thing but the underlying substance is the same.

So what’s the story? A quickly overview; She was born in Germany in 1942 and while she doesn’t remember much of the war years she does remember the bombers flying overhead and the panic on the ground. More so, she remembers growing up in, what was then, East Germany after the war. To add some extra nuance to the experience there was a Russian outpost/barracks on the outskirts of town. My Grandmother lived in fear of the Russian soldiers; for good reason.

Later she escaped to West Germany with her mother. She was helping her mother escape an abusive husband. He was abusive in all the way that abusive husbands today and, if anything, worse because there was no fear of reprisal from the law or socially. He was an acholic and my mother believes that if she did not get her mom out of the situation, he would have killed her. That would not be the last time her life would be in jeopardy from a significant other.

My mom got her out of the situation by falsely her out to West Germany. There was a period when the East Germany government allowed citizens to visit relatives in West Germany and it was under this pretext they got permits to travel. Mom was surprised that the authorities let her leave East Germany. My impression was that she was not sure even on the day they were leaving that she would be allowed to accompany her mother and that she could be saying good bye to her to never see her again.

When they got to West Germany, they stayed with mom’s uncle. He was in what would, today, be called low-income housing; 1950’s style. They paid for their rent by taking care of the apartment and doing the cooking and the like. Both my mom and her mom worked at a spark plug manufacturing plant not far from where they lived.

They faced a lot of the same issues refugees face in today world with attitudes like people believing they are taking jobs and resources. While I’m sure it was better than being in East Germany they found the environment very unfriendly.  Christa, mom’s mom, had another brother who had moved to Montreal, Canada and he said it was better in Canada. Montreal became the next stop on their journey.

It was in Montreal that mom met dad. They both worked for a Canadian Department store called Eaton’s (also known as Timothy Eaton’s) which was one of the three big department stores in Canada at the time. The others were Sears and the Bay. The bay is the only one that is still in operation in 2023.

 

There is of course more, but I will leave it here and look forward to constructive feedback....

 

Thanks All