Poor as a kid?

[Colton]

With the final link of my family passing (my great Uncle Mario at age 87), it got me to thinking about the days my mom was raising four kids on her own (dad wasn't making his alimony or child-support payments) and I'm just astonished at how she did it.

For example, I can clearly remember eating -- believe it or not -- ketchup soup, etc.

I also recall how for a few years, our Christmas presents to each other were items we made ourselves.

Through it all, though, I wouldn't trade a minute of those times for all the money in the world.

RIP, Mom... RIP, Uncle Mario.

It's kind of dusty in here...

 

[Spartakate]

I definitely remember eating government commodities as a child. Mom would make it this big trip and get my sis and I all excited so we'd thank the people who handed it out (and who can't smile at a happy, curly-haired, blond, five-year-old girl?). Powdered milk, American cheese, flour and a few other things if I recall correctly. It must have taken a lot to swallow her pride. I'm fairly certain that mom didn't eat some days. I know I never went hungry or worried about it. But thinking back I'm pretty sure mom did every day.

I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[BigSleeper]

I am sorry for your loss.

Your mom sounds like a very fine, strong women. I hope you and your siblings honor her commitment and strength in your daily lives.

 

[fishwrapper]

My parents -- I was lucky -- were uneducated. I should add, in a formal setting.
My father worked a menial factory job for 33 years. My mom cleaned homes.
There were a lot of Top Ramen and tomato soup nights.
I got through college on a baseball /academic scholarship. My brother was a National Merit Scholar and a Rhodes finalist.
My parents didn't miss one of my games until college. I miss them.

Be good. Be strong, Colton.

 

[Songbird]

Condolences, Colton.

 

[User 1019]

After my parents divorced, my mother raised a young boy on a grocery store cashier's pay. After she began dating my stepfather a few years later, I vividly remember having to run to the convenience store a few blocks away to get a jar of mayonaisse with food stamps -- having no idea what they were -- so mom could finish preparing the meal.

I know that was a couple of tough years for a 26-year-old woman.

Hang in there, Colton.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

I can remember our couch being repo'd.

 

[didntdoit19]

My mom put me through an out-of-state school and is in the process of paying for my brother's education at an expensive private school. She works two jobs while my dad, who has been unemployed for seven years and thinks he's above the working world, sits on his ass and ******* about not having money.

Every day I wake up and try not to let my mom down. You have no idea how much guilt I had for going out-of-state, yet my mom promised to get me through, which she did.

I should probably call her...

 

[Colton]

DD: I agree... make those calls, while you can, trust me.

 

[writing irish]

When I was a toddler, there was a time when we lived in a trailer and my mom kept me fed on cream gravy when there wasn't anything left in the cupboard. Our furniture was repossessed once. Fortunately, by the time I got old enough to remember things, we had clawed our way back into the middle class.

 

[rallen13]

No one can ever know what poverty is like until they have lived it. I'll light a candle and say a Hail Mary for your Uncle Mario, Colton. As so passes a real Man.

 

[digger]

We were on food stamps when I was a kid, we had to move several times because we couldn't pay the rent. One school I went to was in an ultra rich town, I think we were the only kids in the school who got free lunches. (that started while I was in like 7th or 8th grade).

Somehow, my mother always made sure we got fed (and the food stamps helped a lot). I had good friends when I was growing up, so did my brothers and sister, it really didn't seem that bad. My mother always treated me and them like she knew we weren't so bad off, and she knew we could do better in our lives.

I went to college thanks to financial aid.

That's why I'll never accept the right's complaints about "big government''. I never would have been able to get where I have (not like I'm rich, but I'm comfortable) without government help.

Anyway, my condolences, Colton.

 

[GBNF]

I thought I had it ****ty, but I was one of the lucky ones, I guess. I thought it was bad to grow up without a car after my uncle stole my mom's. But I guess I had it OK.

Colton, all the best and be strong.

 

[wickedwritah]

My parents never drove.

We lived on government (and other) handouts for too long. It's the reason why I sacrifice my social life very often to put myself ahead financially, since I never want to be there again.

And the sad thing is, it could've been much worse. My parents did the best with what they had.

 

[Colton]

Thanks for all the heart-felt posts, folks. We don't have it so bad, huh?

Kudos to all of you who have been through the ringer, so to speak, but have not allowed the difficult times to break you.

 

[qtlaw]

Sorry for your loss Colton.

We had it tough for a while, more culturally than financially. My natural father was an alcoholic womanizer and my mom divorced him when I was 5 or 6. Now bear in mind that this was the late '60s and these were two chinese young adults living in SF. This was not an acceptable social situation and my mom was ostracized by everyone in the community and blamed for my dad's womanizing ("you must have done something wrong to make him do that"). Well she moved my sister and I out of a nice home in SF and bought on her own a one bedroom condo in a very small outlying suburb. My mom's dad was uprooted from Chinatown and lived with us while my mom worked the graveyard, swing shifts as a single mom in a strange place (mom came from China when she was 14 and thrust into a high school in Texas without any english skills). It was really weird then, growing up with a single mom when 90% of everyone around had mom and dad at home and they were all Caucasian (and there was less than 1% of Asians or blacks). Luckily for us, about a year later my mom met a wonderful electrician who gave me a great father figure and who did quite well even though he only finished 9th grade growing up in Idaho. They have now been married 35 years and growing strong.

 

[Colton]

qtlaw: What a wonderful tale! So glad your saga has an ongoing happy ending.

 

[Write-brained]

I really appreciate this thread. Thanks.

WB

 

[KG]

After being laid off from his factory job, my dad worked third shift at the Kentucky Sate Pen (still does) and a day job at a lube shop (only quit the second job about two years ago). My mom worked at a factory for over thirty years and recently went back to school and got an office job after the factory shut down.

We never had extra money to blow on anything we wanted, or to have the "in" clothes, but we still managed to get by. Even when I was 16 I was glad that I had been working for a year to save enough to pay cash for my first (used of course) car instead of having my parents buy me a brand new car for my 16th b-day like a lot of the kids in my school.

I just wish I was able to pull off geting by on next to nothing as well as my parents did. I think if I were on my own I could, but the other half isn't exactly capable of using enough common bleeping sense when it comes to finances.

Thinking back to those days as a child makes me miss them. Things were so much more simple back then. Thanks for this thread.

 

[Colton]

KG: I get the feeling having those kinds of principles will carry you an awful long way in this life. You should be proud.