My parents were great influences in my life. From my mom, I learned optimism.

I never saw my mom in a bad mood. She was always happy and looked at the good side of everyone and everything.

When she wanted a fireplace, she substituted as a mail carrier and after a year, was able to buy it. Once when thinking she and Dad might get a new car, a fire prevented it.

Dad was a logger, and the logs on the cold deck of the lumber mill had burned up, which prevented him from paying his workers with the money he would have received. Neither parent mentioned it to us kids, and nothing changed in their behavior.

They never talked to us kids about money, having it or not having it. Mom cooked, sewed our clothes, painted the walls inside our home, and always found a way to make something out of nothing.

Our parents took in an AFS student: Olga, Job Corps girls, Japanese students, and others, which had a big influence on me. I remember her sending packages to her pen pals in Europe after WWII.

Family was the most important to her. Mom took us to visit her parents and their siblings and her siblings.

We learned stories about all of them. We lived minutes from my father's family and got to know and love them, too.

So many stories to tell. In fact, when my little granddaughter, Natasha, spent the night with me, she always asked for the stories.

What fun! She always asked for the stories about the people (the relatives). .