[Looking at history and why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.]

What do you know of your grandmother? I was one of the fortunate that grew up to know all my grandparents relatively well. Since they lived in the next town, we saw them every week or two. During the summers, before I was old enough to work with Dad, I would get to spend a week at a time with them.

Our articles talking about family traditions and learning traditional medicine from grandparents evoked numerous questions from my much younger sister, as well as many others. My sister did not have the same privileges of knowing that link of history.

So much came from her questions. The time-frame of my growing up was from the supposedly idyllic fifties. Yes, my mom was very much Donna Reed in good looks, perfect house, and fabulous cook. Donna was only four years older than Mom.

Was life perfect? You must be kidding. We were kids with all the angst of the various ages.

To illustrate it was not an idyllic time, I well-remember the nuclear bomb scare and people building bomb-shelters. Since Dad was in home-construction, he learned of the construction practices and built them. We now know it was unrealistic, since the 8-inches of concrete would do little for impact and radiation would dissipate widely permeating everything.

Then there was the Suez Canal crisis, which Walter Cronkite, the news guru of the day, assured us could be the start of the nuclear holocaust. Both these were big-ticket items we lived under, but could do nothing about. Media and government have long had a supporting relationship.

The threat of the Russian boogey-man of the day made the evening news to keep us in fear. Does this sound familiar? It was not until much later in life that I understood actual politics interestingly from a comment by hyped arch-enemy Nikita Khruschev, the Premier of Russia / USSR. “Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.”

Few statesmen remain or were ever in government. Regardless of the political system, it seems most politicians / bureaucrats are less concerned about the people, the society, and country and more concerned about accumulating power and wealth at whatever cost, including selling-out their soul.

Politicians must have war to be able to manipulate vast wealth. The ancient seer Samuel gave the same dire warning over 3,000 years ago in the Jewish history, I Samuel 8:11-17.

Add on the normal stress of growing-up. Making the transition from a child to adult in early teen years was and is absolutely traumatic. You are neither and have no basis of comparison. To you as an early teen, it seems the 16-year-old is the fount of knowledge and your parents just do not understand. Your body control is no longer coordinated, as your muscles, hormones, and mind transitions to adult.

I recall thinking, if this is growing up, I do not like it. Then boys discover girls two years after girls made the opposite discovery. At once there is the allure of the opposite sex, with the frustration of not knowing how to handle any of the now foreign interactions with the same girls you once played with on the playground.

Bringing the story forward to current events or looking at current through history, a hot-topic is trad-wife. This is the traditional wife relationship.

Looking into the phenomenon, from a historical perspective, it is what it says, traditional, just like the medicine of that era. What is the posted opposition to trad-wife? ‘This is revolution back to the idyllic fifties.’

Trad-wife is not a perfect lifestyle, but it certainly beats whatever else is offered. Mom is accessible. You could count on that even in the tumultuous teen years.

The ‘you can have it all’ attitude promoted for women in the eighties and nineties just does not, did not, and cannot happen. That provided the unanchored, totally insecure generation that is now re-evaluating and embracing the trad wife. That re-evaluation is a threat to those who do not have it, know nothing of it, and are afraid to dream of it.

Keep your vision, ladies. Your kids will grow up to call you great. Your husband will appreciate being allowed and encouraged to be a real man. (Hint: send him outside into nature.) Society will appreciate the stability you provide, regardless of the disparaging but envious comments.

Think about who was your grandmother, your mother? What did you learn from them? Did you learn their values or those of a sitter? If they were a ‘trad wife’, you already know how fortunate you were. If they were not, you can still live a life pleasing, but it takes learning a different tradition. It is so worth it.

Send us your histories, stories, and traditions including memories or twists. We would like to bring them along. Life is good. Enjoy!