I didn't know we were poor
until my sister explained it to me when we were in our twenties. We lived in the big house on the hill. We had
food to eat from the garden and from Grandpa's farm. We had bikes and skates and a toy or two at
Christmas. We had television and cars and took vacations.
I thought everybody built
their own house. I thought it was normal to wear the same dress for years as I
grew through all of the matching hand-me-down dresses from the cousins. I had sun and fun and laughter. I don’ think it was poor.
I'm pretty oblivious to things
going on around me. Sure I knew my
cousin always seemed to have multiples of the newest pet rock. I figured it was because she was a spoiled
brat. (Turns out it was probably because
she stole them but that is another story for another time.) Sure there was that girl at school who had
the amazing blue dress, actually lots of different dresses. I figured it was because her grandmother
didn't have so many grand-daughters. I don't
think that any of that was poor.