Born in 1913, Nellie Dowling Trainer was faced with the struggles that the turn of the century brought when basic survival in so many families was the norm – disease, war, poverty, crime, dust, and grueling work. The Depression started early for the field workers in rural Oklahoma and usually ended with death or migration away to sometimes better lives.This is autobiographical journey of my grandmother as was told to my mother over the eighteen years she lived with my parents. Nine of those were bedridden. A difficult story for a true gentle lady who chose to tell it journeying from house to house during her childhood years through the early years of her marriage. It is unvarnished sometimes without details sometimes with facts that are harsh. However, it is a tribute to a strong woman who sang as she worked in the kitchen and loved life, travel, and family. Sometimes there were small details that spoke of her former hardships. She was frugal with food and scraps of material became quilts. She was a survivor who cherished life. – Tonya Lewis