What a good story! And the most remarkable thing about it is that it actually happened. During the hardship of such an experience, no one who feels his own existence is secure wants to trade. Yet, in retrospect, it is always the best life narratives that mark something very significant, namely the will to help oneself. The complete absence of what modern man does when he has no income is to "get a job", that is, to get work from others. Whereas the entrepreneur is someone who seeks to realise his own business. The small businesses in the midst of the big ones give any environment the liveliness that everyone looks for, but few dare to undertake. In today's world, this is all the more difficult because of the various requirements one has to fulfil as a self-employed person. I regret this very much and sometimes - nostalgically - wish for the old days back, when doing business on one's own was less bureaucratic. But maybe that's just my imagination, who knows.

You describe the mistakes made in a realistic way, the naivety with which your mother approached the matter, all the more wonderful that it still worked out. The family itself seems to have had a long tradition of entrepreneurship. That rubs off on the coming generations and one can feel it in you, too, the own and the independent.

Those things that were difficult, exhausting, nerve-wracking, felt unfortunate at the moment of happening, are worth telling because hindsight has something to convey. Those who have once been in mortal danger, rescued or saved themselves have come out of it with their skins intact. Until the next adventure and point of despair. Life never stands still.

Thank you for sharing and I'll be happy to read more anytime. Re-blogged.