"There were nine children in my father's family and eight in my mother's. My grandparents did the best with what they had. After the Depression, they were scratching out a living and working hard. They kept the family going"
About this Quote
"Did the best with what they had" is the language of family lore, the phrase people use when they want to honor struggle without indicting anyone for it. The subtext is gratitude, yes, but also a careful protection of dignity: her grandparents weren't failures; they were constrained. "After the Depression" places the story in the long shadow of national catastrophe, suggesting that even when the crisis was "over", the consequences lingered as daily austerity. The verb choice - "scratching out a living" - makes survival tactile, almost agricultural, implying work that is exhausting, repetitive, and unglamorous.
And then the emotional thesis lands: "They kept the family going". Not "they succeeded", not "they got rich", not "they achieved the dream". Going is the achievement. Coming from an actress whose public image is tied to shine and performance, the context matters: it's a way of grounding celebrity in intergenerational endurance, recasting stardom as something built on someone else's relentless, uncredited labor.
Quote Details
| Topic | Grandparents |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Ladd, Cheryl. (2026, January 17). There were nine children in my father's family and eight in my mother's. My grandparents did the best with what they had. After the Depression, they were scratching out a living and working hard. They kept the family going. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-were-nine-children-in-my-fathers-family-and-48674/
Chicago Style
Ladd, Cheryl. "There were nine children in my father's family and eight in my mother's. My grandparents did the best with what they had. After the Depression, they were scratching out a living and working hard. They kept the family going." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-were-nine-children-in-my-fathers-family-and-48674/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"There were nine children in my father's family and eight in my mother's. My grandparents did the best with what they had. After the Depression, they were scratching out a living and working hard. They kept the family going." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-were-nine-children-in-my-fathers-family-and-48674/. Accessed 2 Mar. 2026.
