Audio: 5 Ways to Be Happy in a Recession

Dear Kimberly

Your aticle in US News took me back 80 years!Born in 1930 and raised by a grandmother who was the matriarch of a household w/her 2 sons and 12 children of which I was the eldest, I recalled some poinant & funny moments during this period & I would like to share just 2 of them.

Grandmother always took me w/her to the meat market. Those days there wer no pre-wrapped meat neatly displayed in a cooler. Having immigrated from Okinawa, grandmother always went to purchase pork, the Okinawan staple. As we approached the counter, I would always hung back several steps since I knew what was about to happen. Just prior the the butcher wrapping the pork,she would say "too much fat," at which time, the butcher would remove some of the fat. As grandmother dug into her purse, she would say "Are you going to throw away the fat?" which had been placed aside on the counter. Needless to say the butcher "gave" the extra fat at no cost, which I knew Grandmother would boil it down for cooking oil.

After the meat market, we walked to the open produce market. Since grandmother grew most, if not all the vegetables in our small back yard, head cabbage was the only item on her list. She would walk by the vendors and observe each stall and then chose one small head of cabbage. After payment, she would stoop and pick up the "remnants" of wilted cabbage leaves which the vendor had cast aside. These, said grandmother, would make perfect pickled cabbage to have with rice!

All through the Depression years, although I hated the penny pinching times, I realize now that I was unconsciously observing her many examples in survival which I use to this day. The one thing we lacked was fear, because Grandmother was always there. She was one tough lady!

HELEN I. KOHASHI of HI 4:05PM March 02, 2009