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Well, as far as privileged, I was almost 8 before we had running water and indoor plumbing. My parents bought the house across the street for $3,500.00. Indoor plumbing and all! Dad was a coal miner and mom was a housekeeper for the funeral home, which paid $5 a day.



Hey Bob... here's another way we are alike!
Our family still had and used an outhouse until I was 13 years old. Our kitchen sink was gravity fed from a nearby stream. Dad took a long roll of black plastic pipe and wedged one end under a stone in the stream, then hooked the other end to our sink. In the spring, tadpoles would often come out of the faucet when we tried to get a glass of water. In the summer time, you could feel "things" crawling across your butt when you used the outhouse. I remember once there was a rattlesnake under the outhouse. My dad went back to the house and got his 12 gauge to shoot the snake so the kids could use the toilet.

Mom and Dad never got us involved in any extracurricular activities... we lived in the boonies too far from where everything was happening. Our little parish school didn't have a music class, art class, or any school sponsored sports. Yet, every one of the 5 kids grew up to have passionate hobbies, stable marriages, productive careers, and none of us are in therapy. Well, Except for this recurring dream of being pulled into the toilet by a monster serpent, we all turned out fairly sane.
;-)

My point is that we are the product of our own choices. When society fails to provide opportunities, it is still possible to create your own. Every loser I know blames his lack of success on somebody else. Every successful person I know had a moment when he considered his situation and made specific plans to rise above it.

Last edited by Pat Marr; 08/06/11 09:45 PM.
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