I don't know what work is...

I had lunch with Oma yesterday and once again I was told stories of her youth. "I look back on those days. They were hard. I was always working."

She was the firstborn of 6 kids and the oldest of all her cousins. Since she was the oldest, she not only did most of work, but she always got in trouble when the other kids did something wrong. So what did she mean by "always working"?

Her parents started her at the age of 5 scrubbing the floors.

At the age of 7, her parents put her charge of the beer tap at the bar of the restaurant because they were so busy and short on help. She had to get a stool to stand on because she wasn't tall enough and she did that until they closed.

At age 9 her uncle was off in the military and her aunt had some problems with her legs and had to remain bedridden. Since there was no one else to help, Oma's parents sent her to her aunt's house to help out. Oma was there for four weeks cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids, running errands, and anything else that needed doing. Her aunt never got out of the bed or was out from beneath the covers while Oma was around.

One day her Aunt told her something was wrong and to hurry over and get her friend (in the nunnery I believe). Oma did but her friend wasn't there. Her aunt then sent her to get the doctor but the doctor was out seeing another patient, so the nurse told Oma she'd send him as soon as he got back. Oma finally went back to the nunnery and asked for the superior to come. Oma got back to her aunt's only to discover that her aunt had been pregant the whole time and was about to give birth. The baby's head was already showing, but it was stuck.

"She tore, but I didn't know what I was doing. I did the best I could, ya know? There was blood and mess all over the place."

The superior nun (or whatever you call her) finally got there right after the baby was born and apparently had a week stomach, so she asked Oma if she could clean everything up. The doctor arrived just as she was finished cleaning and finally someone told her, "You did good, honey."

Her uncle came home a week later I guess. "And you know what my aunt told him? That I hadn't been doing anything. That I'd left it all up to the helper who occasionally came by - who didn't help with anything except to sit and talk while she was there. So my uncle came in yelling at me. I told him that if I wasn't being helpful, I'd pack my bags and be gone by morning. And I did just that."

When Oma was 14, a good friend of the family had to go into the hospital for something, so Oma was sent to babysit her kids. The woman had complications and stayed hospitalized for 3 weeks, and so Oma was at her house for 3 weeks taking care of the kids, cooking, cleaning, etc.

She also knitted and crocheted clothes for the entire family. Her grandfather gave her money on the way to her aunt's that time and told her to buy whatever she wanted. "You know me. I bought yarn." I can't even imagine a 9 year old now having money to spend and buying yarn!

Listening to her tell me of these different things she did before the age of 15 made me realize that I don't even know what real work is, nor how good I've had it growing up.