Edelweiss and other wildflowers

Edelweiss and other wildflowers

A Story by Olivia Danielle
"

This is a chapter of a book I'm working on. Loosely based on my parents who had to overcome many hardships, only to find each other and fight together.

"

Chapter One:


Mei Lin


I didn’t grow up thinking I was different. In fact, I was just like everyone I knew. 

My hair cut short, despite my preferences. My grades were high, despite my fatigue. My family was poor, despite our work ethic. 

My family and I lived in Shanghai when everyone was poor. We didn’t stand out in any way, shape or form. Our family name was Lin, same as the couple two doors down, and same as the family right above ours in the small apartment complex. 

I grew up with the mindset that you do what you have to do. Life is a battle. Enter armed, or die. Whether this phrase is used towards the job market, or the complicated politics of China at the time, it is a valid phrase and I stand by it.

I was raised to be strong and to stay strong. Family loyalty matters. Never accept gifts. Always ALWAYS try to pay someone back even if they insist you don’t. I learned the hard way which values are right for me and which aren’t. 

Love isn’t the most important thing. A woman is on her own. She must fend for herself and succeed without relying on others for money, power, or validation.

But family isn’t everything. Sometimes things that seem little can tear a family apart. If or when that time comes, it’s good to have people to fall back on. That isn’t a value I was taught since birth. That’s something I learned over the years. Family isn’t blood, it’s the people you genuinely love and know will have your back even when everything seems hopeless.

Death is inevitable. I believed and always believe that death is finite and we take all of our actions to our grave. 


Everything I have learned, told to believe or been taught made me who I am.










Nick Robbins


I was given some values from my mother, some from my father, and some from my sisters. God gave me the rest, I used to believe. But things change over time.

Life should be filled with joy, pleasure, but working hard gets you a spot on the social and economic hierarchy.

I was not given everything. I was not hand-fed. I grew up poor, and with the mindset that poverty was my families reality. But not mine. I was determined, absolutely determined to find a career that I was passionate about, but that also sustained me financially. 

I grew up feeding myself. I was raised with the cheapest of foods that could feed my larger family. I taught myself how to cook, clean, and withstand stress to a high caliber. 

Though I had a good life before everything happened. I found pleasure, hell, I found pleasure every single day. An amenity not everyone has.

I grew up in touch with God. Though my family wasn’t particularly religious, He was someone to talk to, someone to look up to.

Death couldn’t be finite. It would be too terrible.

That mindset only lasted about 15 years.

We try desperately to fit in, in this white-washed world. Even though, physically, we resemble the others, our values were different. I was taught to adapt, and conform. So we changed them.


Everything I have learned, told to believe or been taught made me who I am.

© 2019 Olivia Danielle


My Review

Would you like to review this Story?
Login | Register




Share This
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Request Read Request
Add to Library My Library
Subscribe Subscribe


Stats

45 Views
Added on July 8, 2019
Last Updated on July 8, 2019