One of my prized possessions is a short autobiography by my great-grandfather who was a farmer in France born in 1902

Chapters include

- I saw the beginning of electrification
- I saw the first cars
- I saw the first airplanes
- I smoked my first cigarette at 7
- The telephone
- 1914: The war
- I had the Spanish flu

making /obsidian • writing stephango.com

In one chapter he talks about how he was almost killed during the occupation because the Nazis wanted to confiscate his tarps, and he said no. As cheesy as it sounds, these little stories make me feel really lucky to be alive.

an aside:
- it's easy to imagine a 20yo saying enculé to jerks in uniform
- it's easy to imagine a 60yo farmer telling soldiers to fuck off
- he must have been in his 30s when they came for his tarps, already a man with responsibilities, so much to lose