A Woman I'd Like to Meet

This is a picture of my great-grandmother, Rose (Rosalia).  Genealogy is one of those "on and off" hobbies of mine.  I haven't worked on my family tree in quite some time, but I have recently acquired an album of extra pictures from my mom's side that I have never seen before.  The photos were placed in one of those old "magnetic sheet" albums that were turning yellow, so I knew I had to get those precious photos out of there before they got contaminated by the spreading "album cancer".  Anyhoo, re-scrapping these photos has resurfaced my passion for this hobby.  I love learning about people in my family tree.  Knowing your ancestors helps you to know who you are.  They're story is part of your story, and somehow you feel connected to them, even if you've never met them.  When I look at this picture of my G-grandmother, I like to imagine myself walking towards her across the field to greet her.  What would I say to her?  What would she say to me? If she had any words of wisdom for me, what would they be?  If I stayed for supper, what kind of meal would I eat? Could she make a mean loaf of bread? Would she have a favorite recipe she could pass on to me?   How long was her hair? What were her fondest memories of her childhood?  What were her parents like? I would have so many questions I'd like to ask her about her life.   If I could go back in time and spend a few days with her, it would be very interesting to observe her performing her daily tasks as a farm wife. She walked with a limp because she had a deformed foot from a childhood injury that didn't heal right (she wore long dresses all the time to cover it up), but that didn't stop her from working hard and raising eight children.  I don't know how those women back then could stand wearing those long dresses all the time.  Can you imagine doing everything in a long dress?  Ugh.  After spending some time in her world, I would like to bring her back to mine.  What would she think about females running around in jeans? What would she say about our microwave ovens, and hot running water, and electric garage doors, and music coming from iPods to listen to while we work in the kitchen? (was she a fan of polka music?) What would she say about all the pre-made foods in the grocery store that we don't have to make by scratch anymore?  She'd probably say that we are "crazy spoiled" and don't know what real work is, and I wouldn't be able to argue with that.  I really don't know much about her, and my mom only has a vague memory of her from when she was very small.  A distant relative described her as "a loving and quiet woman who was always obedient to her husband who probably wasn't always kind".  She must've been one tough woman.

Wenzel and Rose