MY LUCKY GRANNY

My grandmother is 94 years old; she feels great, is full of energy and most importantly is the most optimistic and happiest person I’ve ever met. She said it’s because she has had very good luck during all her long life in Ukraine.

Judge for yourself. After the Russian revolution the communist government took her parents’ farm, their house and all their belongings. But, unlike others, their family wasn’t killed or sent to Siberia, just forced to work on a so-called “collective farm” together with the children.

In reality it was something between a concentration camp and a jail. They worked seven days per week, 12-14 hours a day without a vacation or the right to get any job in town.

Oh, yes, they were paid… about half a pound of grain per day, which is like 10-20 cents worth. But still, the problem was to even get that miserable “payment”, because the government took everything. How did they survive?  They made their own small plant beds and grew vegetables… after 12-14 hours of work on the collective farm.  They then had to somehow sell that crop… and pay a huge part of that to the government again as property taxes for every fruit tree or even chickens that they had.

But what was there to complain about, if 99% of the Soviet Union peasants had exactly the same life? More than that, my granny thinks about that time as the happiest period of her whole life, because at least her husband was with her for whole 9 years. Later the KGB took him one dark night and she never heard from him again.

What kind of “crime” did he commit? Exactly the same as 30 million other people, killed by Stalin’s regime. So for the last 63 years my granny has been single. But again she considers that time to have been not too bad at all, compared to what happened in a few years.

It was an awful, catastrophical artificial famine, which stroke the whole Ukraine and part of Russia. The entire crop was taken away two years in a row. It was so bad that (sorry, my dear readers, but it’s the truth) some mothers killed one child to feed his meat to the others.

But again my granny had good luck, because almost (!) all her sisters and brothers survived that time. Later, World War II happened.  It was so bad, that even now, after almost 60 years after its end, when every fourth Ukrainian was killed, my granny has one and only toast for any occasion. 

“If there is no war around, we have nothing to complain about! Cheers!”

She believes in it so strongly!!! So now, when she lives in the city, she is just happy to have a pension from the government (about $10 per month), water in the tap and bread on the table.

“Why would I ask for anything more?” she sincerely asked us when we complained about something, let’s say, endless lines in our stores. 

Actually, it was mostly her who volunteered to stand in those lines for hours and hours (of course, outside, in rain, wind or sun), just to get that damn chicken or a couple of pounds of apples, because sale was limited per person.

So what was her response to our condolences to her about the waiting?

“It didn’t take too long, only 5 hours this time! It used to be 10 or 12 before. And you know what, I met a very nice lady in that line and we had a really good chat with her!”

I don’t know why, but my granny always meets only very nice people and makes friends right away. Everybody likes her and she likes everybody. So, is she lucky or what?