by Susan Mattern | Jul 27, 2018 | 70th Birthday, Aging, Birthdays, Finding Purpose in Life, Life, Old-Life Crisis, Turning Seventy
I’m very ambivalent about turning seventy this month. On the one hand, I’m glad I’m still around for my 70th birthday. On the other hand, seventy is really OLD! I managed to pretend I was still middle-aged for a long time. I ignored my first AARP...
by Susan Mattern | Jul 20, 2018 | 1020s Candy Bar, Chicken Dinner, Chicken Dinner Candy Bar, Father, German, German-American, Immigrant, Starting Over
My dad left Germany in 1927 to come to the United States. His father had already arrived here, and was working as a bricklayer. He told my dad there were many jobs for carpenters and that he really should come to America. So my dad left Hamburg. He was lucky to leave...
by Susan Mattern | Jul 16, 2018 | Father, German, Immigrant, World War II
My dad had a lot of stories about when he came to the United States. He was lucky to leave Germany in 1927, before Hitler came to power. He was a carpenter, and had heard from his father, who was already in the US, that there were lots of jobs over in this country....
by Susan Mattern | Jul 10, 2018 | Father, German, German-American, Immigrant, Life, Statue of Liberty, World War II, WWII, Your Huddled Masses Yearning To Breathe Free
My dad wasn’t an emotional person. He’d talk about how he came to the United States from Germany. He’d tell us about winning a tennis championship years later – the Missouri State championship – the week I was born. My mother wasn’t too...
by Susan Mattern | Jul 3, 2018 | Finding Purpose in Life, Gardens, Second Chances, Starting Over
I love gardens. I wish mine looked like the “Secret Garden” in the movie, with its climbing roses, vines and daffodils, but I’ve come to appreciate the succulents and bougainvillea of Southern California. The thing I like best about gardens is that...
