One Tuesday morning, as the sun shone through the open windows, warm rays of light danced across the small country kitchen and dining room, where a grandmother and her young granddaughter were sitting for a while sharing laughter and talking about old memories and the good old days of grandma's past, all the while creating a wonderful memory together. After much deliberation, I had finally decided to interview my grandmother Owens and ask her about her life. However, since this would be the first time I sat down with Grandma and asked her about her past, I was nervous and wasn't sure if she would open up to me, as Grandma is a very private person. I quickly discovered, however, that I was wrong. After calling her ahead of time and asking if she minded if we talked about her and her past, I went there to find Grandma already sitting at the small round wooden table in the dining room with two glasses of iced green tea, waiting for my I arrive. As I settled into my favorite place at the table, my grandmother waited patiently and expressed her excitement at being able to talk to me, especially since due to school and work I hadn't been able to visit her or Grandpa for a while. In other words, this visit was now overdue. My grandmother, Neva Ruth Washam, was born on April 9, 1945 after a successful home birth in the small town of Clifton Hills, Missouri. Of eight children, she was the seventh born and the last of three girls. Grandma and her family were never rich and sometimes owned very little. This affected many of their celebrations such as birthdays and Christmas. For example, for all her birthdays, grandmother always received a cake that her mother had made from scratch, without... half the paper... the cat was released from the jar and placed in a high tail. the nearest hiding place, away from that sandpit. Grandma never saw that cat near the sandbox again. After living in Clifton Hills for a while, Grandma and her family suddenly moved south to the small town of Mount Vernon, Missouri, when she was nine years old because her father was diagnosed with tuberculosis. and admitted to the Missouri State Sanatorium, known as the Missouri Rehabilitation Center. Over the next five years, life was very hard for Grandma and her family. Grandma's mother supported her children only with what she earned from making and selling quilts. She was so determined to provide for her family, that when Grandma and her older brother Bobby contracted measles and had to stay home, she laid them down on the couch and covered them with a quilt with the help of Grandma's Aunt Ruth..