We never had much growing up. To say that is an understatement but that's not really true. We had a roof over our head, a little food on the table (I can't recall ever being truly hungry or about to starve despite the number of times I told my mom I was about to die), something to drink (more on that in a moment) and we had clothes. Not the greatest clothes, but enough to make us look like something.
I come from a factory working family - my grandpa worked at DuPont, my uncle worked at DuPont, my other uncle worked at DuPont (I think), my mom briefly (if I recall) worked at DuPont, and my dad .... yeah, he worked at DuPont.
We had a house, we had a car, we had a van, we had a motorcycle, we had some clothes, we had some food ... it was all good. But unlike kids in the neighborhood, we didn't have ... a Christmas.
Now early on, when I was really young, my dad would part time pastor a church - Lighthouse First Assembly of God in good ole Hermitage TN, and he and my mom would actually buy every kid in the church (20-30 kids) a little something - just so that they could have a Christmas too. My brother and I would get what we got and, that's what we got.
Years later, after we had moved several times, I remember going 'digging for change' in the dresser drawers one time (something all kids have done in the hope of the holy grail, just enough money to buy the candy they want) and finding a check from the factory. $.01. One Cent.
Christmas was not going to be good. Again.
I remember waking up with a lot of hope that morning. I remember going to the tree. I remember my brother coming in. I remember getting my parents up. I remember all the excitement. I remember the "big" present being a 44 ounce Dr. Pepper from 7-11 ... a Big Gulp.
And I remember being fine with that.
The truth is, I got something. It wasn't what I wanted. It wasn't what I hoped for. It wasn't what the neighborhood kids got. It wasn't what my cousins got (believe me, there was no end to them showing me their riches and spoils later at me Grandma's house). But regardless I got SOMETHING. I don't know what happened to all those kids at the church. Did they get something too without my parents there to provide it for them?
I never needed much in life. A place to live. A roof over the head. Something to eat. Some clothes to wear and something to drink. I'll take a Big Gulp any day over just being thirsty (or in the words of a 9 year old, dying of thirst).
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