Fear Doesn't Last Forever

“Ma’am, you have been ordered to come with us.”

That was what was said to me on one of the scariest days of my life. It was a day I thought would never come--not after all I had been through.

My name is Zhang Rong, but I am known as Helen to my family and friends. I was born on November 18, 1921; it was the coldest day on record in Changshu, China. I had three older siblings, and our family was well off because my father was a salt merchant who had come from a family of land and money. For a while, life was good.

Our lives began to take a turn in 1923. My father, who was thirty-six at the time, came down with a mysterious illness and abruptly died. I was only eighteen months at the time, so I never truly knew him. Of course, it left the rest of my family devastated.

To read more of my late Grandmother Helen's story, please go to https://www.ourlifelogs.com/post/fear-doesn-t-last-forever