I never questioned my parent’s childhood or life stories. My Dad’s memories of escaping across the border of Romania during Communism and my mom always eating paine cu jem (bread and jam) for lunch every day and then having to work in the farm after school never seemed out of the ordinary for me and they weren’t especially not for them.
As I got older, I began to expand my view on what other things were happening around the world at the time of my parent’s childhood. While my parents were suffering under Communism someone in America was enjoying the beginning of the 70s and also starting the Civil Rights Movement.
It made me realize how big the world really was and how the way I grew up is totally different from other people even other Romanians because of my parent’s childhoods and maybe you didn’t get the “I walked to school in 6 feet of snow” lecture when you were sick and wanted to stay home from school but we have all been influenced by our parents and how they grew up. We are all connected.
Photo Credit: Britannica.com