Depression Echoes

Even though my parents seemed to survive the great depression pretty well economically, they were scarred by the experience.    One way I suspected that was that they refused to talk about it.   There were some echoes I experienced:

Syrup:   Syrup for pancakes an waffles was corn syrup.   I knew nothing else till I went away to Farm and Wilderness summer camp and tasted maple syrup.   I was in heaven!   And I wondered why I hadn't gotten to taste it before.

Margerine:   Likewise my first taste of butter was at summer camp.   We lived on margering...which my parents told me had first been (by law) colored green to differentiate from butter.

Of course I never have corn syrup, always buy the fanciest maple syrup I can find, and never eat margerine except (by kosher) in a meat meal.

Probably more significantly than these little food artifacts, I seem to have gotten a pretty good work ethic.   Not only can I work hard, but I actually like it.   It helps that most of the work I do I love....my job, practicing music, sanding and painting my boats.   But the truth is I feel pretty good during and after hard work that is not a labor of love.   I am pretty lucky to have developed that trait!