50 Years

So, April marks 50 years that my parents have lived in this Country. Of course, some may find this hard to believe because even though they have lived most of their lives in the good ol’ U.S.A., their accents are still thicker than the gravy at the Old Country Buffet.

Heck, my mom’s grammar is almost as bad as Anna Nicole’s. It’s so bad, that I actually have a running list of some of her biggest “zingers” on my old website: http://losrulz.tripod.com/Inga.htm. My all-time favorite would have to be one she used to say when I was in the bathroom and somebody called. Normally, you would expect your mom to say something along the lines of, “Can Karl call you back, he is busy.” Nope, not my mom. I guess she never wanted to lie, so instead she would answer, “I’m sorry, Karl’s in the toilet.” This was done in a thick accent, which only added to the funny. Of course, in high school, this really wasn’t so funny in my eyes, especially if a girl was calling to talk to me. I can only imagine how much of a turn-off this was, visualizing me taking a growler. Ah, but what a story.

There are so many other Inga-isms, and I try to add them whenever I hear new ones – however, since I no longer live there, I don’t hear them as often (one of the things I miss about not living there).

But, they’ve come a long way, thick accents aside. Just imagine immigrating to a country that speaks a language that you know 0% of. Imagine doing this before the internet, cable T.V., and Sesame Street. Yep, that was my parents. They were lucky enough to find good employment (they were sponsored by a company that was looking for German immigrants), and even more lucky to find neighbors who helped them learn not only the language, but also fit in to society.

And, even though I struggled for years with not only generation gap issues with my parents, but also culture gap issues, it made me a stronger, more compassionate and understanding person. My parents did good, and I am proud of them for overcoming so many obstacles to live the American dream.