<p>I was the third child born to parents later in life. Neither were college grads. My sibs were seven and ten years older. We lived in a rural town (pop.3000) in the south. Dad was the (low paid) county sheriff. Once I started sch. Mom took a p/t job as a bookkeeper. She also made peanut brittle and sold it for $1/pound to make extra $. My job was to fold all the little boxes and help shell the peanuts when I was in elementary sch. Aside from a trip to a theme park one yr, our only vacations were weekend trips to the beach (1.5 hours away) staying for free in a cottage that belonged to family friends. </p>
<p>My Dad died at 53. My grandmother (mom’s mother) had died three months earlier and my grandfather,Dad’s father, died exactly exactly 11 days before my Dad. Our world was rocked. It was 1974. I was 11.</p>
<p>Brother was into drugs (using/dealing…eventually got arrested).<br>
Sister had just “come out of the closet”, a major thing in a small southern town. She had just grad. college and was on her own. We lived on Social Security and Mom’s church secretary income. Mom made a lot of my clothes.</p>
<p>That summer '74, I turned 12 and took over the yard. Keeping the grass mowed was my job. Eventually, I started cleaning the gutters on the roof (lots of pine trees in our yard). Later, I babysat and worked at the town pool concession stand…spent most summer afternoons there with friends. In h.s. my Mom made me take typing and Home Ec…hated both! I worked as a waitress, then got a job (thru DECA) in the stockroom of the town hospital. During college I was an EKG tech. The money I made was mine.
State school was my only option. I was thrilled to go there.</p>
<p>I had everything I needed,lived a decent neighborhood of small brick ranch houses w/ lots of friends to hang out with, had a great time in h.s… even got a 1972 Ford Pinto for $595 when I was a h.s. senior (class of 1980). </p>
<p>I grew up fast in less than optimum circumstances but knew I was way better off than many in our community.
My Mom once told me she was sorry I had such a hard life as a kid. It hadn’t occurred to me to think of myslef that way because she always strived to get me everything I needed.</p>