Reply #23: The first 8 years of my life we were somewhat poor

[Droopy]

We weren't on public assistance until my folks split, but we had a hard time making ends meet. We lived in a working class neighborhood and my dad worked at a paint retailer and my mom worked at Kmart. The marriage was stressed without the added stress of lack of money. When times were tough and they were behind on their bills, my folks would always fight. I don't think money could have saved their marriage, but lack of it certainly made things tougher for us.

After my folks split my mom got custody of me and my sister and we received public assistance for a little while. Then my mom met a man who would become my step-father and things got better for us. He had a good job at a union print shop (they used to print Hustler magazine there). My mom also found a better job a year or so after they married and we moved out to the suburbs where we lived in middle class utopia.

I grew up to be a truck driver. I now live in a working class neighborhood and although I don't have a lot of money, I've pretty much got everything I need through my own means.