I grew up in poverty. My mother never worked until I was in 5th grade. So we lived off the government. My stepfather was a good for nothing alcoholic, so whatever money we did have, went to rent/electricity and alcohol. I remember him and his parents (who always lived somewhere close to us) buying little debbie cakes with food stamps (which were 25 cents at the time) to get back .75 and eventually they would have enough to go buy beer. I didn't care 'cause I got the little debbie cakes. -l- But I remember having to go to churches, the food giveaways all of the time. Drinking powdered milk -ugh- not having sugar for kool aid and drinking the syrup out of fruit cans and eating raman noodles. We never had cable, never had a phone. But my mom did the best she could. We didn't have anything but she did all she could to get me nice clothes, nice shoes. I remember the nice anonymous people who gave me Christmas presents.
It sucked, I won't deny that. I don't have many good childhood memories. As soon as I could work, I got a job and worked my butt off. I went to tech school, got a degree and a good job. I unfortunately made bad decisions with credit cards and ran up a score of debt, which my husband and I just finished paying off. And while it was damn hard, it got easier over the 4 years it took and now it feels so good to be free.
I give back now. I donate to United Way, I adore shopping at Christmas for the 'angels' on the trees at the Salvation Army, doing for them what other nice people did for me when I was a kid. It sure puts a perspective on things. |