Oral History

I was interviewing my mom because I wanted to find out how she went through her teenage life.

She told me that her life as a kid was not that fun. She lived on a farm with her parents, sister, and brother. When she was ten, her parents gave her choirs to do, that were for adults. Her mom taught her and her sister how to cook and clean. My mom’s brother, on the other hand, was taught how to drive a tractor and clean up in the barn. The three of them had to go to school, so after coming back, they had to leave their homework and go help their parents. When summer was coming, there was always so much work that had to be done outside, my mom was waking up at 7 every day and had to go gather vegetables that would later on be sold. Few years later, her dad came to America to get some money. He stayed for good few years and the four of them had to be on their own doing all the choirs that they were taught. My mom’s mother got very sick and the doctors said that she won’t be able to walk again. Now my mom, her sister and brother were on their own. They were older but that didn’t change anything. They had to manage somehow to handle school, work around the farm and their sick mom that always needed something. My mom told me that it was very hard for them when they found out about the sickness. Even though, their dad was sending some money from America, they still had to work very hard. Few years later, my mom got a phone call from her dad that he wants her to visit him. She came to the United States and discovered that he had a cancer. She told me, "When I found out that my dad has a cancer, I burst into tears and fell on the ground." Her life changed dramatically. She stayed in the United States until his last days would come, because he didn't want to die in Poland. After two years, she came back to Poland with everything that her dad left there.