@roamer_1 @Smokin Joe
Some very poignant things.
Some days I got to wear my own shirt. Somedays I had to wear my older brother's. And then other days I had to wear my little brother's shirts. A hand me down to hand me up life.
I started working when I was 12. It was a simple concept. My dad told me if you really need something beyond what I am providing, get a job. I've worked hard since.
My goal is to reach...theirs. Not money. Not fame. A maker of that thin veneer we call civilization. I don't care how many people die to make that.
Like always.
And it took only 33 years after that to hear my dad tell me he was proud of me.
Hand me downs when i was little, but I soon out grew my older brother's clothes. Mom was real good with a sewing machine and mad us some shirts, mended pants almost constantly. We fished, crabbed, dug clams, were hunting by 9 (ducks and deer), and worked for our own spending money on the farms (Grandfather's and Great Uncle's) all summer from the time we could do anything useful. Got my first 'real' job at 14 (labor laws) working on a marine construction crew, driving sheeting to make 'summer money' which had to last the rest of the year. We weren't dirt floor poor, but didn't live anywhere close to extravagantly. I remember one new car, ever. We were considered 'hicks from the sticks' by the more urban cousins just 25 miles away, but we slept in our own bed, and never went to bed hungry unless we were really in trouble, and ate really well as a result of being pretty good hunters, fishermen, and crabbers. Fred, I'm not bragging, I know we were blessed, because we always had
enough.
I'm not sure my dad has ever said he is proud of me in so many words, but things he has said hint at it. Unlike most of the clan, I went far away and built from the ground up. There were a couple of others in my generation who did the same (cousins), and that was special when we got a chance to correspond. Only two of us left now, in that group. Money and fame are fleeting, will-o-the-wisp goals, really. Better to love and be loved.