As a 14/15 year old I used to work on farms (was very cheap labour for the farmer!): pick spuds (potatoes), pick garden peas (ate some ), picked strawberries (ate most ). Then worked in a restaurant, on building sites and at a place packing massive chandeliers and gold-thread sofas for a Sheikh (paid for by the oil company who wanted his oil) on Uni holidays - still underpaid but learned a lot.
especially on Sunday mornings with huge papers that all would not fit in your bag so had to come back to pack more to finish.... although in the dark at 5 am after a fresh snow it was almost other worldly quiet except for the snow crunching under your bike wheels... after school when everyone else was relaxing you were met with stacks of newspapers at your driveway to fold and deliver ... but monthly collection when we got paid was worth it... this thread brought back some memories ... Nashville Tennessean and Nashville Banner
power rangers, debuted when i was fifty, same year my second son was born, during my fourth marriage, before i discovered the philippines and i think her name was katherine ann hart. just a fantasy then but well well well look where i am now!!
I remember stacking my Sunday papers on my sled and then pulling them along. I think my first job was at a place called Mike and Maria's Pizzaria. Nice people and friends of the family. I would go there on Saturday morning after breakfast and put together pizza boxes all morning. Got .50 cents , then went to the movies and had some popcorn or other item along with a soda. Felt good earning my way.
My Childhood was awesome as I was adopted into an incredible Family but in no way was it as fun as adulthood. From 16 till now at 58 I have had an incredible ride in life and still am (on top of the world) in my own way. Prior to 16 my jobs in order were, apple picking, tobacco picking, Chicken catching, cook, mushroom picking, and wood cutting. At 16 had a dune-buggy, dirt bike and a snowmobile, and my car was a 1962 Chevy 2. When I joined the Army at 18, the discipline I learned along with proper decisions has landed me with more in life that I could have ever really needed, imagined, or wanted.
So you are saying, as I have read many times elsewhere, that it is the family who raise you that bears more value than those who created you? If I am not in error of understanding you had a incredible adoptive family, I can compare that with being born into a family of 5 children and having a physically and mentally abusive father. Our ages (me and siblings) now total over 370 years but we still all suffer the scars, as did my mother from age 19 to her death at 73. Nothing beats a caring family, whoever the parents are.
Yes........you nailed it. I have a twin sister and we were adopted into a family that in total equaled 6 children. My great grandfather, Grandfather,and adopted father had all achieved 32 degree Freemason. When my adopted Father whom drank alot came home, it was hell on 2 legs and I was the post he took things out on. But none the less, his sacrifice to have raised us all won me over in a very positive way. Outside of one bad habbit, he was an incredible man and the largest, smartest man I have ever personally known (in many ways) and am proud to have been his Son. His passing was the most difficult event in my life. All his values I carry on to the best of my ability.
As a child I was fortunate to be the youngest of four and the only boy. While I grew up my sister one by one left home. However as their clothes were dresses I never had to wear the hand-me downs! Climbing trees, fishing in the ditches with a net and jam jar catching tiddlers, my childhood was a happy one. My schooling was basic but I managed to survive the authoriterian teachers and during my teenage years I never knew what it was like not to have employment. In my twenty's my first marriage gave me the responsibility I needed to settle down and life has always been a learning curve. Growing up in the 50/60's was the best time in my life and the memories remain.
