This is late, but I just got it.
i feel like i know you so much better from this post than anything else of yours ive ever read
Thanks, GB. I don't talk much about my background here, but it sure wasn't extraordinarily white-collar, if you know what I mean. We grew up modest until we didn't because my father made it (back when that still happened). It was luck and blessing, and I know it every day. I'll never make fun of people who can't afford. We were always making it, but barely. My mom still clips coupons and insists on deals. It's just how we all came up. I remember days when all the kids would come over and play and my mother would basically feed the neighborhood because we could afford to. Always that way in our family. Not quite enough but just enough to care when they could. Always a ride, always a sandwich, always something for our neighborhood in the rural area of CT, which was adjacent to the rich area, but never even close, really.
and just marvel at the piles of crap he crawled through so my sister and i could have it so much better than he ever did
So do I. I wonder whether my brother and I truly appreciate it. I think we do. I think every day having what we have is a blessing and never forget it. I'm also not of means, but that was my fault, so I just do what I can now to be present and available and working soon.
anyone making fun of where someone eats due to being able to afford it
is not thinking or spoiled or something brohan. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt of not having ever been there and not knowing. Ignorance is bliss. But I hear you, GB.
Thanks so much for posting this post, SWC. Made me feel good to hear someone is listening months later. Careful on these boards, all. Somebody might drop something meaningful and it'll go not responded to until months later, when it might mean something to someone who just happens to be reading it then. And that makes it all worthwhile.