"The Rest of the story..."

I recieved an e-mail from my cousin in California after she read the post about the socks I recieved from her mother. I have to include what she had to say about the socks. I have to tell you, I've never felt so honored to recieve such a simple gift. Below is my cousin Susan's response:
Hi Gretchen~Another thought just came to mind, and I wanted to share with you...She was interesting. She would always say how no one gave her anything when they got married, not even a pair of socks (Mitchell side and her family's--I assume because she married a Caucasian--- when they found out she was pregnant with me, they told her to dump me in the well and none of the neighbors would know). When they moved to America, she felt very poor and impoverished. She said that even so they loaned money to the Mitchell grandparents so that Kathy could have an operation and were never paid back. She always told me that people wouldn't even give her a pair of socks.... Interesting. I didn't know that she attached so much value to socks until I read your blog. Growing up during the war, she was given hand me downs. She had four older sisters. By the time she got anything they were worn and threadbare. This is the reason why she went into sewing. So she could wear the gorgeous clothes that you saw in the Power Point. Even after she got married, she continued to say no one gave her anything, not even a pair of socks... Funny how she put such high value on a pair of socks. Growing up during the war probably impacted her in ways we will never imagine. I don't think my father experienced war quite like she did.
Susan, if you are reading this, I hope you don't mind I shared the rest of this story. I think it is an important piece and I think it teaches all of us a little about ourselves and others. As each of us live our lives it is all to easy too lose sight of all the other perspectives, experiences, and needs that exist around us.

Ge