The Joy of growing up Poor

I was having breakfast in Concord Center yesterday with my sister Kerri at the Main Street Cafe.  She is currently taking a writing course, and in this course you write about your memories.  So as we sat there over our coffee, we began reminiscing about our childhood.  She read one of her memory stories to me about when our family had to sell all our possessions and move to California.  But we didn't know how poor we were, or why my mother had to sell all our possessions, we were just excited for a new adventure.  There were only 5 of us six K's at the time, (Kevin, Kelly, Kerri, Keith, and Kristin....Kenny came along years later) and we lived in California for a little over a year, until our Dad lost his job,  we had to sell all our things again, pack up our car and drive cross country back to Massachusetts.  In Kerri's story she remembers, singing in the car, and my parents making up a song about cows (Moo Cow Moo Cow Moo Cow Cow)  every time we saw cows we would laugh and sing that song over and over (ahh the joy of simple entertainment).  We didn't have game boys or lap tops in those days, so made up songs, and coloring books and crayons had to suffice. One of my memories of that trip back to Mass. was that I heard my parents talk about running out of money, so when we got to Nevada, my Dad parked the car outside a Casino, and my mom went in and actually won money, so that we could eat and make it back home to my grandparents house in Lincoln where we lived until we got back on our feet, and my Dad got at job teaching and coaching. 

My Dad ended up getting laid off from that teaching job, and the next years were tough.  Now there were six mouths to feed, and my Dad went from job to job.  Those were the "Lean Years", but we never knew it.  My mother somehow made meals out of magic.  One of my favorite meals was elbows macaroni with tomato soup on it.  To this day I find myself craving that meal.  What got us through those years were Angels.  Angels in the guise of my great aunts, and gradparents who would send care packages of food to our house.  Or Angels in the guise of wonderful friends named Russ and Ginny.  Were it not for Russ, our family would have had many nights without heat.  He built a wood stove out of an old furnace for our fireplace, and that wood stove kept us kids warm on many a cold night.  My mother was also the Angel who got up all through the night to feed that furnace, so that we wouldn't feel the cold, she never once let on, how hard things were.  We were fed, clothed and happy.  My siblings and I never knew about all these Angels, we didn't even know we were poor. 

As Kerri and I sat at the Main Street Cafe, one of my favorite memories was of this same spot that we were eating at.  Our car had broken down right around the holidays, and my grandfather (another of our many Angels) loaned us his old red pick up truck, so that we could go to my other grandparents house for Christmas. There were 6 of us kids, my parents and a pick up truck.  How were we all going to get to Maynard for the Holiday?  Well, ...my mother and father, Kenny and Kristin all sat in the front of the truck, and Kevin, myself, Kerri and Keith all sat in the bed of the truck covered by tons of blankets, and a tarp covered the back of the truck bed.  Why the tarp?  Because this year it Snowed!! on Christmas Day.....and it Snowed a lot!!!  As we made out way from Bedford to Maynard, we ended up making a quick stop at the store on Main Street in Concord which is now the Main Street Cafe.  It was snowing so hard, and I can remember us kids poking our heads out from under the tarp....people must have thought my parents were crazy....but all I felt was Joy, it was Christmas Day, it was Snowing, and us kids were in the back of a truck under a tarp....a real adventure and a Christmas to remember for sure....there really was some joy in growing up poor!