Prof. M.A.
Oral History Project & Short Paper
By D.B.
The following essay is about my interviewee’s personal history and what he had experienced, being a residential in the United States of America. R. L. W. is a 69 years old man who bears his age well and who spent most of his life in his home country state Louisiana. He moved with his wife Brie and his daughter J. to California in 1987 in order to run his own business, a plumbing company. This step was very impressive he said, because the life is kind of different to the “redneck states” like Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Anyways he enjoys his retired life, living like me, in the Homesteads, an apartment complex located in Fullerton, California. He wrinkles his brow when he said that he used to have an own, bigger house. “The operation 2 years ago changed everything” he said, while he mourned and seemed to get meditative. He explained to me, that in 2010 his doctor told him that his kidney is not working well enough for a healthy body. These were very hard nights, he said. Luckily after a medical analysis, his wife came into consideration of being a donator for him. This step binds them even stronger together during their marriage, he said. “You need to image D., what this meant to me” he added, while he lent forward. I could truly share his feelings on that fact. Unfortunately this intervention in his life changed things. He needed to stop working, taking medicine and always keep paying attention on what he is drinking. “I loved to drink scotch, now it is nearly forbidden for me” he said and pointed on his lower body. He stopped his talking and we both kept silent for a moment. We were actually sitting in his living room, at Thursday the 19th of September and the clock showed 8:30pm. The circumstances of our meeting and talking where very randomly. If he would not have this urgent operation, he wouldn’t sell his big house and so he wouldn’t move to