Keta Steebs Provides Lesson For All Of Us

There is no doubt that 2011 will go down as a year filled with sadness and stress for those that make up the group I call my family.  From funerals to recovery, and a path that I was forced to take for justice to be secured has all made for a year that  has been a lot to deal with.

But after reading the latest column by Keta Steebs (the classiest lady I met in Door County) I am reminded again that life is supposed to be an adventure.  The future always worth waiting for.  Deep down I know that, and so it is not rocket science to recognize it as a fact.  But there are times after long periods of turmoil when a reminder of the basics are needed.

As Keta writes she was given an assignment in 1936-38 freshman English class to write her autobiography.

The last paragraphs of Steebs’ column in the Door County Advocate sum up the trials of the times she lived, and also ends with a line we all need to embrace…with head held up high.

You would never guess that this upbeat diary was written by a child living in an uninsulated granary during the toughest decade this country has ever known. When writing about standing in line with my wagon for our monthly allotment of “surplus” food — rice, flour, lard, etc. — I did not dwell on the sad state of affairs that brought our family to this point, I just write that I stood next to a real cute guy from another school and, “Can’t wait for next month!”

The end of 1937 brought the following report: Spain, China, Japan are all in wars, the Hindenburg crashed, Jean Harlow, Amelia Earhart and Andrew Mellon died, strikes everywhere, a lot of old folks died. Can’t wait to see what next year brings.

While I am ready to spin the pages of this year, and get to another chapter I too am looking ahead and as Keta writes, “Can’t wait to see what next year brings”.

I see a new rose garden surrouded by rocks from back home.