How Did We Cope?

I don’t know. I don’t know how anybody coped. I often say that even now, “How did we cope?”and if it ever, God forbid, should happen again, should we ever cope again? I don’t think I could because I keep saying if anything like that ever happened again I wouldn’t be here; I’d get out. When you’re younger you can sort of make your way through it but I think, as you get older, you just don’t want that. I don’t think anybody wants that for at the time it was bad enough. It’s when you’ve young children, you’re afraid for them. It would be my grandchildren who I would worry about. I know the older one is very sensible but it would be the younger grandchildren – the teenagers, it would them. But in saying that, it wouldn’t be the troubles now you have to worry about. It’s fellows from within the community – among each other. I think now Protestant and Catholic are starting to come together, which is a good thing, I can see a lot of friendships being made through that… but it’s coming now from within our own community.

We’re A Bit Happier

Honestly, I sometimes say to myself, I know I’ve lived through it and all but I think it has taught us to appreciate more – appreciate life now as it is, you know, our kids are grown up now and they have kids of their own. During the troubles you didn’t have time to appreciate your children as you were always saying to them, “Get youin”, “Get you up the stairs”, “Don’t you be going out”, “Where did he go?”, “Where did she go?”, etc. You were sort of hounding your kids then, whereas now the kids have that wee bit of freedom and if they are out late you’re not worried so much. We have a wee grandson who comes to stay, he comes in at 10:30, but if he’s five minutes late it used to be, “Oh my God, where is he?” where now you’re saying to yourself, he’ll be alright – he’s held up and you can relax. Back then if he had been five minutes late you would’ve been ringing the hospitals but that’s all gone now. We’re a bit happier.