A month on the ocean — how grandmother Waleria followed her husband

When Franciszek sailed to the United States, Waleria was pregnant. He stayed with his wife's sisters — there were three of them living there. It was from them that letters came to Poland saying that her husband was "looking at other women".

Undaunted by the fact that she was a young woman, and with a small child at that, Waleria decided to follow her husband. The voyage took a month. The child she set out with died some time later in the USA — no one knows why.

They stayed across the ocean for ten years. Four children were born there: Stasiu, Stasia, Helena and Henio. With the dollars they earned they resolved to return and buy a farm. Sometimes I think how much courage it took to board a ship for a month with a baby — on the strength of a few letters from her sisters.