My family went through hard economic times in 1971. My father lost his job as a pharmaceutical salesman due to a company merger and he was unemployed for quite a while. As a result, finances were very tight, so our family of six no longer enjoyed many of the niceties to which we were accustomed. Mother was determined to save money.

When I first began attending God's Church in the early 1970s, a woman who seemed old to me at the time "adopted" me and took me under her wing. She was a most remarkable woman. She was married at 17, but when she learned God's truth years later, her husband gave her a choice: their marriage or the Church. At a time when women did not strike out on their own, she and her sons had to live alone because she rightly chose God. She chose to live as a "spiritual widow" rather than remarry, yet she did not pity herself. She was happy and outgoing. Almost every week, you could find her entertaining brethren at her home after services. She often prepared a big Sabbath meal for her guests. It was very difficult to leave her home without her having given you something.

From my earliest childhood remembrances, music filled our home. My mother was an accomplished pianist who began to play the piano at about six years of age. As her talent developed, her practice sessions increased to two, three and four hours a day. By age 13, she was tutored at the local college conservatory of music and gave public recitals; and, she caught the attention of and was encouraged to continue her musical development by the Dean of the Julliard Conservatory of Music in New York. After high school, she attended and studied music at two major universities. Although she could have pursued a professional career as a pianist, she fell in love and married my father after the Second World War.

I recently had a visit from a young lady who attends my local church congregation, and we talked for a while. During our conversation, she shared that she did not remember her father ever telling her he loved her. I immediately had a flashback to when I was growing up. I could relate, because my family did not hug each other or express love.

I recently attended a family gathering where one of my relatives asked another, “How did you find yourself” or “not lose yourself” while rearing three children? I did not hear the response, but the question has stuck with me. This relative feels that she has lost who she is because she is a wife and mother. To her, being happy is not connected with doing her best as a wife and mother, but rather with “finding herself.”