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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We grew up in the Deep South in the 80s and 90s and became poor when my dad lost his job and from then suffered from major depression and had spotty employment. My mom did the best she could and held down 2 jobs, but there were 11 mouths to feed and we lived in a 3 bedroom, one bath house in the 'hood.
When I was young, my mother would climb into the dumpsters behind schools and daycares to retrieve tossed out books and educational toys. She'd clean them up with bleach and water and use them to help teach us reading and math.
Both my parents were college educated and stressed education, so we were excellent students. God help you if you brought home mediocre grades. My parents did not play.
We were also talented athletes and dancers, something else my parents encouraged. We took cheap courses in dance at the YMCA and free classes in school. Coaches often gave us extra lessons for free. Most of us went on to play a sport or dance in high school and college.
My mother loved and loves public radio. She'd play classical music and Broadway show tunes while making a veggie stew or baking bread. To this day, I play NPR while cooking. 
We never went hungry and came up with creative recipes out of the most meager ingredients. Huge pots of veggie stew, fresh fried fish with steaming piles of rice, fresh veggies from the market baked into casseroles. She bought day old bread at a bakery thrift store and these little gingerbread cookies with pink icing that we shared in the backseat of the car.
The librarian at the library up the road thought we were awesome. We were the only kids in the neighborhood who  always came and always participated in the summer reading program. She would pull out discarded books for us and send them home for us to keep. 
We spent summers at the community rec pool and were all on the swim team. Hell, there were so many of us we were practically the team. 
Mom often took took us to the museum, which I loved.
When I grew older, I bought all of my sisters' prom dresses. We were recently able to make a huge donation to charity of these dresses. That felt great.
Every single one of us won scholarships and went to college (the youngest is a rising junior). Most of us have gone on to get graduate or law degrees.
We love sharing stories about how we grew up at Thanksgiving dinner. 
Ok, that's enough...I'm misty now. Gonna go call my mama.[/quote]

This is a beautiful story, I hear so many dysfunctional family stories.  Amazing that all 11 of you stayed on the same path and it doesn't sound like there were issues of feelings of impoverishment, lack of self esteem, experimenting with drug/alcohol or mental illness/learning disorders.  Maybe there were issues in these areas but as a family the support was there.  And, everyone seems to have or are on their way to become productive citizens.

Your parents sound great, especially your mom.  I'm glad she didn't have to go it alone as a single parent.

I do believe you had a charmed childhood.  Do all of your siblings remember growing up in your family's household just as fondly?    [/quote]

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