1940 ,,, a shocking disclosure !

 

I was 7 years old in 1940 and living in Plainfield, New Jersey. My fathers family was there too and I loved visiting the grandparents. I've written quite a bit about Papa Lee in my blog posts. He was an author with 3 published books and we children loved to be around him. He was like a big kid himself and, when not pecking away at his typewriter, he would tell us stories or just romp around with us.

Grandma Lee, on the other hand, was a completely different type of person. She adored Papa but she was the one who always took care of the everyday problems of living.  With his head constantly in the clouds she had to be the one with feet planted firmly on the ground and she handled it very well.

 

I was always a bit in awe of her.   She was warm and loving too but in an entirely different way than Papa. We frolicked with him, to our delight, but if a problem arose we'd turn to her.  We always knew that she was the one who actually ruled the household. 

 

And grandma was not a complainer, even when her attacks of asthma would have put others to bed she persevered ... but it was difficult to hear her gasping for breath.   I'll never forget the day when I heard her struggling for breath and rushed to see if I could help in any way.  Was I ever shocked when I saw her lighting up what looked like a tiny cigar !  Here was my God-fearing Grammy smoking !  She must have seen the dismay on my face and was quick to explain that it was a new found cure for asthma and she was trying it out. My memory is not as good as it once was so I checked to see if they actually had those in the 40's.  Imagine my surprise when I learned that the main ingredient in those little cigarillos was  MARIJUANA !