When I was eleven [1916 – now the oldest daughter], my mother suddenly became ill. Her lungs had torn because of lifting things which were too heavy. Mother needed complete bed rest, and I had to leave school to care for her, to cook meals and take care of the youngest children, Meindert and Tiet. Mother was very loving and never complained. There must have been enough reasons for complaining — because I was such a young child, things probably often went wrong.

My father helped me often and always praised me for what I did. I remember so well that I often did not have the noon meal ready in time. One evening father said to me, listen Dineke, prepare the meal early in the morning and then put it on the stove with a low fire. Then you do your other work, and once in a while you look to see it doesn’t get burned. We often ate ‘stamppot’ which contained sausages or pork. When father came home at twelve, he would do the ‘stamping’.

From my tenth year on, I only had one girlfriend, Aunt Martje [cousin of Dina’s mom]. After one year, mother could do most of the things herself again, with my help. Only the washerwoman still came regularly. Despite all of this, I found life quite pleasant. O yes, I had blond, curly hair, but until my ninth year, my mother cut my hair as soon as it began to curl. She was much too afraid for lice, and when my hair was long, she couldn’t get the lice comb through it. So, I always had closely cropped hair and my sister Trijn, who did not have curls, had her hair half-long. That was very hard, and I often felt inferior, but I didn’t talk about it — it wouldn’t have helped anyway. I think that Henk Bousema still has a school picture which shows me with a bald head. But now I have to get back to the story.

I was seven when Tietje died [1911]. We then lived on a large farm which my father managed for its owner. It had large living quarters and a long corridor with stables for cows and many stables for horses. So, there was much room to play. Pa was a very good farmer and wanted to buy a farm of his own. The owner wanted to sell, but it was too expensive for my parents. But Pa could buy a part of the land and build a small farmhouse on it, all with money lent by the owner. Now that man had said: if you sell the farm for a good price, I’ll give you that piece of land much cheaper. Pa did his utmost, sold the farm for a good price, but did not get his piece cheaper. But Pa depended on the owner and couldn’t say anything.

Then we had to build a farmhouse on it. The first plan was beautiful, but the moneylender said, too expensive. They started again, but in the meantime, everything had become more expensive and thus it wasn’t even so much cheaper and not nearly as nice. Father and mother thought this was really mean — I still remember that. I was eleven when we moved [1916], and Tietje, named after my first sister, was one year old. It was a real change for all of us. But Pa could work for himself now, it was easier, financially, and there was much more satisfaction.

Father loved horses and often won prizes at horseshows. We had one very beautiful horse who always won first prize. Her name was Marie. When she had a foal there would be many buyers to look at it. Pa always got a good price for the foals and thus could pay off the mortgage faster.

And so, life went on. Mother’s health was completely restored. I stayed home and went to the evening school. During that time Harm van der Laan [future husband] went to the farmers’ evening school. I often went for a day to the fields with my Pa — I loved that. Father was a real storyteller. Mother was pregnant again with Berend and often grumbling — I couldn’t stand that too well. Trijn didn’t mind it so much. During that time, she did not do so well in school, but she was more crafty than me.

I was almost fourteen when Berend was born [Nov 19, 1918], and all of us were happy with our new brother, and I was often allowed to care for him. Mother had been very ill — it was the time of the Spanish flu. Many mothers died during childbirth. When Berend was born, we sat in the backroom and heard the mother’s groaning. She always had a difficult time. I prayed and prayed that the Lord would save her and felt very close to the Lord. Once in a while, Pa would come in and finally Berend arrived. We were so thankful, and I thanked God who had heard my prayer. But mother was sick for a long time yet, and I had to care for the baby completely. But I loved it. All of us got sick with the Spanish flu at that time, except father.

Jan got a severe nosebleed — father couldn’t stop it and was very worried. Sometimes someone came to help, but everybody was so sick, and many people died, sometimes three or four in one family. I remember Mrs. Tammer who lost three sons. She said to me, now I can never be happy again. I thought that was very sad, especially because they did not believe in God. We ourselves had felt so much what that meant in your life and how rich it made you.