The Life and Loves of Anda

By Halina A. Kensler

This is my story - My name is Anda. My husbands name is Stanley. We have three children. A boy and two girls who are almost grown. We live in Krakow, Poland. We own a leather tanning factory. This is a seasonal business. July and August is vacation time at the factory. We pay our workers to take a vacation. For the last year or so I have been raising my family and managing the business by myself. It has been very hard for me. I never get any rest. It seems like I am always busy taking care of the children or taking care of the business. It was not always like this.

There use to be a time when my husband ran the business and was very proud of his family and was a very good father. My husband was very proud the day his son was born. We named him Sebastian. One day my husband took some seeds and planted an oak tree in front of our factory. After he planted the seeds he said, I want my son to be as tall and strong as an oak tree. When the business was lax my husband would sit outside and watch the tree grow. Today the tree is still there and very tall and strong. This is beautiful token of remembrance for my son, who is also tall.

My husband had become less and less interested in the business. He has become obsessed with gambling and playing cards and partying with friends. My husband has lost quite a bit of money playing cards. He also spends a lot of money playing toto-lotto. One day my husband won the lotto and won back the money he had lost. To be honest, I believe my husband has lost interest in our marriage. As for me, all I have are my children and our business.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781463438258

Halina A. Kensler

During my life I have had a very interesting life. At times very sad and at times very happy. I grew up during WWII in Poland. The stories I could tell are many. I survived WWII and got married and had children and a very successful buisness. later on the buisness fell by the way and I moved on with my life. later in life moved to the United States. I am currently living in Monterey, California. I am married to a wonderful husband who loves me and takes care of me. I love to cook and I also love to learn new things. I am a Zumba-holic. I do Zumba twice a day 5 days a week!!

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© 2012 by Halina A. Kensler. All rights reserved.

Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/11/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4634-3827-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-3825-8 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011912802

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

This book is dedicated to Amadeusz and Philipe for all the Love and happy moments that they gave me!

This is my story—my name is Anda. My husband’s name is Stanley. We have three children, a boy and two girls.

We live in Krakow, Poland.

We own a leather tanning factory that has been in the family for over thirty years. My husband was so good at his craft that we had no competition in the area. We were the only tanning factory for miles around. This is a seasonal business.

July and August is vacation time at the factory. We pay our workers to take a vacation.

There are many reasons we have little to no business during the summer months. The animals are not yet ready to be hunted. They need the summer months to mature.

The hunters are forbidden from hunting, during the summer months. Once the hunting season opens we get swamped with business.

The breeders also need the summer months for their animals to grow and develop a nice fur coat. Once the animals have matured into adults the breeders use electricity to kills the animals so they don’t suffer very long. Then they bring the skins to the factory for treating. The breeders keep us very busy.

For the last year or so I have been raising my family and managing the business by myself. It has been very hard for me. I never get any rest. It seems like I am always busy taking care of our children or taking care of the business. It was not always like this.

There use to be a time when my husband ran the business and was very proud of his family. He was a very good father. The day our son was born was the greatest day of my husband’s life. My husband was so excited that at 5:30 in the morning he was running around the neighborhood waking everybody up. My husband was hollering at the top of his lungs, It’s a Boy! It’s a Boy!

One day my husband took some seeds and planted an oak tree in front of our factory. After he planted the seeds he said, I want my son to be as tall and strong as an oak tree. When the business was lax my husband had a habit of sitting outside and watching the tree grow. Today the tree is still there and very tall and strong. This is a beautiful token of remembrance for my son, who is also tall and strong.

My husband had become less and less interested in the business. He has become obsessed with gambling and playing cards and partying with friends. My husband has lost quite a bit of money playing cards. He also spends a lot of money playing Toto-lotto. One day my husband won the lotto and won back the money he had lost.

To be honest, my husband has lost interest in our marriage and was losing interest in our business. All he wants to do was gamble and play games and party with his friends.

One sunny, October day, a young man came to our tanning leather factory asking about a job. He was tall, charming, with black curly hair, blue eyes and a soft warm voice. He was very well groomed, clean and well dressed. His beard was short and trimmed. His name was Amadeusz. I directed him to the office where my husband and I interviewed him. We decided to hire him. Soon after he was hired and learned the job, my work became easier and more pleasant. I was so happy that a handsome, young man came looking for work. He became the physical and mental motivation for my hard work and he affected my whole life.

When Amadeusz came to work he always greeted everybody with a happy smile. I noticed that he would make a point of giving me a special smile. I smiled back at him.

Amadeusz was a quick learner. He did everything the way he was taught. He was very detail oriented. The leather was treated well and the customers were very happy with the finished product. He met all his deadlines. Based on his work habits it was obvious that he was a good worker.

My husband and I liked him. When customers asked Amadeusz questions about our business Amadeusz would answer, Please ask the boss. Amadeusz would always keep the way we do things private. We could trust him. When it was break time he would come to the office for tea and to talk.

Amadeusz worked at our business for a few years. Then one day he was called to fulfill his mandatory military service. After Amadeusz left, my life was not the same! I missed Amadeusz very much! Not a day passed that I did not think about him. I needed him. I hoped he would come back to us after his military service.

When it was the busy season, we would employ more people to do the work. It was a wonderful time having students work for us who were attending college. One of our employees asked me if he could bring his brother to work at our factory in the afternoon, when he had some free time. He said that his brother had graduated from a university in Warsaw. While he was working for us, he mentioned to me that he had a professional diploma from a university in the city of Lodz. Then I asked him, How is it, your brother said that you studied in Warsaw? He answered me, That was my first university! After I heard what he said I looked at him in a perplexed manner and I looked at everyone else in the room. Then I jokingly said, I don’t employ in our factory people who have only one professional diploma!!" The whole room erupted in laughter.

With Amadeusz gone, I became responsible for the whole business. There were many things to do. Our factory specialized in tanning and dying skins and dealing with many different clients who had many different requirements. Every job needed to be done perfectly. We had a reputation for doing professional work. Our clients