RETRO: Ancient memories. Snow journey, children’s joy and a happy marriage
But we all enjoyed the fun of the snow, as I show in the photo from the fifties. At that time, I rode ordinary skis, the straps were tied, and when my strap broke, I calmly “fixed” it with ordinary twine, which I used to have in my pocket for safety. And skiing went very well, I played a lot of competitions.
Yesterday I looked at the older photos a little more and so I was looking forward to it – but only with those good memories of life in our family. My husband and I have lived together for 35 years, and even though they have lived as a widow for almost 20 years, I have something to thank for.
I got married at the age of twenty-one, and after three years of living with my parents, we moved to a nearby town, where my husband and I built a family house. After the birth of my first child, I returned to work right after 3 months, I was an economist and had a much higher salary than my husband. My grandmother helped me the most. I was expecting another baby soon. With two children, I have already enjoyed the whole maternity leave – I was 25 years old. There were one more of us in two years and I had to forget about returning to work soon. I mainly took care of the children and the household, just our whole family.
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I didn’t even miss the fact that I often went to various districts in the district town, to meetings, meetings, that I appeared in the district newspapers, as well as my articles.
I learned something completely different: to discover the world of my young children, to live with them in their world, to play with them and to raise them in my own life. The husband was more busy, but was happy to return home. I remember this time as the most beautiful in my life. In order not to live only my children’s lives, I wrote a detailed diary in the evenings in ordinary lined but strong “notebooks”. It all filled me.
A great experience for us was a joint 14 days in Bulgaria. At that time, my husband and I suggested to the children: either air travel or color television. The sea won – all the children swam competitively. The husband received a larger financial contribution from his employer, so we could afford it. We bought a color TV in the 90’s.
We did not avoid difficult moments, illnesses, pains, sometimes there were even marital cracks – as well as relaxing and beautiful moments. The children grew up, they went to high school, their son to college. They started their own family, six grandchildren were born in our marriage. When our 7-month-old granddaughter died of oncology, I couldn’t look into a stranger’s stroller for a year without a pain in my heart.
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My husband died of leukemia at the age of 59, even though he had a bone marrow transplant. A man full of vigor, teeming with health all his life, became helpless within a few months, so I took care of him at home. Throughout his illness, we lived together mainly spiritually, and at that time we were really closest. We talked a lot because his colleagues and acquaintances didn’t have him anymore – just like the extended family. We listened to Radio Proglas together, prayed together, and since he had almost lost his sight, I read to him from his favorite periodicals.
He died at home, surrounded by love and the help of all the children. In the following period, it was very difficult for me to see couples holding hands – couples in a private conversation.
We tried to live according to the Ten Commandments, and so did our children and grandchildren. But for a marriage, even a Christian one, to last, both partners must have enough tolerance and goodwill. I was very glad that at that time our children were surrounded by friends who had and recognized the same values. In the community, families with children are strengthened and a support in all respects.
On this snowy day, I remember one incident many years ago.
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We all came home from the evening Mass on Ash Wednesday, the children wore their hats carefully so as not to erase the “ashtray”. It was a nice white winter evening. we have decided that we will all drive on “our hill” behind the house. We only had one sleigh, so we filled big jute bags with hay and straw that winter / at that time we kept rabbits /. As of today, I see us coming down, sometimes falling into a snowdrift or stopping on old land. The moon was shining, it was beautifully freezing and the stars were the most beautiful backdrop for us. The only decay was our antics – the ashes fell from the children’s foreheads.
My son-in-law once took me during the half-year holidays with three grandchildren to the Eagle Mountains. It was really there for all the wonderful skiing, but the joyful and cheerful frolic on “our hill”, later with the grandchildren, behind the house on sleighs and sacks stuffed with straw and could not be overcome.
Today we already have a mound built of houses and there is also less and less snow.
Marie Ženatová