What Were the Happiest Years of Your Life? Or, What Is Happiness?: SHORT STORY #7. Nonfiction series #1- #60.

By Alla P. Gakuba

Life is full of surprises, both big and small unexpected stressful events. They are occurring many times a day and every day. These events challenge people’s knowledge, creativity, and skills and test their endurance, resilience, and ability to survive.

Experiencing a problem? Having difficulties? Overwhelmed or stressed out from l

• Language: English
• Publisher: Know-How Skills
• Release date: Dec 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781943131372

Book preview

Book Title

BOOKS BY ALLA P. GAKUBA, BSCE, MAS, PhD

Trilogy: motivational nonfiction short stories

to teach logic, creativity, new skills, and

self-esteem that would change readers lives:

What Is Life? What Is Happiness?

(Book 1)

A Person Is a Product of Time, Place,

and Circumstances

(Book 2)

How to Design Innovations and Solve

Business and Personal Problems

(Book 3)

Fleurons

Books are available on Amazon, in bookstores, and worldwide wherever books sold. Visit author’s website for free stories, extras and much more at www.allaPgakuba.com

Fleurons

At the end of this Short Story please see

A LIST OF ALL INDIVIDUAL SHORT STORIES FROM NONFICTION SERIES #1 - #60

BY ALLA P. GAKUBA, BSCE, MAS, PhD

Book Title

Copyright © 2017 by Alla P. Gakuba, BSCE, MAS, PhD

All rights reserved.

SHORT STORY #7: What Were the Happiest Years of Your Life? Or, What Is Happiness?

This is a motivational short story in the series of nonfiction short stories, #1– #60, by Alla P. Gakuba, BSCE, MAS, PhD. First edition.

Logo Knowhow Skills

pages cm

Published by Know-How Skills, San Francisco Bay,

California, USA;

www.allapgakuba.com

EPUB: ISBN 978–1–943131–37–2

1. Political Science – Colonialism & Post-Colonialism. 2. History – Military – World War II. 3. Self-Help – Personal Growth – Happiness.

KEYWORDS: 1.Technological progress of 1960s–1970s. 2. Post-colonial Africa. 3. International aid to Africa. 4. World War II, 1941–1945. 5. Materialism or an American dream? 6. What is happiness? 7. What is life purpose?

First Edition 2017

Story formatted into EPUB (Adobe InDesign) by: Marian Oprea

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ABOUT AUTHOR

FleuronsPicture of the author

When attending civil engineering university in her native city Odessa, on the Black Sea, the Soviet Union, the author, Alla P. Gakuba lived an ordinary life. She was a shy, timid, and unsure of herself young woman, but a serious student.

Fascinated with life, bubbled with infinite youth energy, and curious about the world, she had read hundreds classic books written by world famous classical writers.

She saw numerous movies, the majority of them international, and went to the theater many times to hear the most popular operas, saw ballet performances, not to mention visits to the drama theatre, the circuses, and philharmonic classical music performances, all from a young age.

She was a dreamer…In her dreams she was anything she wanted to be. Intoxicated by life she imitated her heroes and adopted their manner, language, attitudes, and became as sophisticated as they were.

Then, one cold, unassuming November evening, fate suddenly interfered and changed her destiny. Fate propelled her to live on different continents, ambushed her with life-threatening events and monumental problems.¹ She survived, became stoic, and make many contributions.

Alla worked in 4 countries: the Soviet Union, Rwanda, Tanzania, and the United States; in 3 languages: Russian, French, and English; and under 2 radical systems: socialism and capitalism.

Alla P. Gakuba, received her BSCE from Odessa Civil Engineering University in the Soviet Union; she earned her master’s degree at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; and she received her PhD from George Washington University,