Dear Neil,
I guess I have given the wrong impression of my up-bringing I was 1 of 8 as a child we were raised to not ask for anything as we had nothing. Our meals were very simple, hamburger helper meals, galosh, spaghetti, stews, soups, and anything that could feed a large group of kids for a cheap price we were very poor. As kids, every one worked around the neighborhood to help pay the bills on the little plot of land we had. When I turned 8 years old I was moved to a children’s home with my brother and had no contact with the rest of my family. There we were worked like farm animals and trained like them too, school, church, and picking up rocks to build fences, wall, and such, feeding the livestock and back to work on the massive farm. It was not fun. At age 14 I finally got to meet my Father again he had no use for me as he had his own life to deal with so me and my brother were on our own again.
When I turned 17 I had to have the Old Man’s name on the Papers JUST so I could GO Be A MAN. Damn what a Joke that was (if they had only knew what I had been though) I had grown up hard and fast the Military was the only place that I ever got a chance to have anything I ever wanted and did not have to ask anyone for it. I could pay for it myself By the Love of God Above I was Blessed. For once in my life, I did not feel like I was poor and eating out of a rubbish can. I sat in my room with my first pizza, a Becks beer that I had paid for myself and ate & drank until I could not do either any more. After I was done, I sat and cried for an hour or so thinking about my brother and what I had just done and how wasteful it was. I took me years to realize that I could enjoy a good meal without feeling guilty.
I have never been rich or claimed to be I have made do with what I have had do with and been happy to survived. My Family of four survives on less than $600.00 a month so the Shepherd’s pie, soups, pinto beans & corn bread, tater soup, chili, and any wild game or fish taken is used wisely and not wasted. No, we do not go out to drive troughs and if we do, the $ 4.00 you spoke of would go for the Dollar menu for all of us to get something. Here in the US if we go to a place of that sort, the four of us can order two things from the dollar menu and bring water from home and it would cost us $8.00 that would be a good outing for us for the month.
By telling you my background and my family’s situation, I am not looking sympathy or a monetary contribution from you. Just letting you know that I am Truly Understanding and a Simple Country Man that means what he says and when I extend My Hand in Friendship it is Honest and Pure, There is No Hidden Agendas. The Knifes I posted were created in a small shed by my own hands with hand tools, love, and hard work not fancy machines, as I have none.
I am the sort of feller that would try any kind of food, at anytime if I were hungry. Remember uncle-sam taught me how to eat bugs and crawling things LOL. If it don’t eat me first I’ll eat it is my motto or if I can get to it first I’ll eat it more like it as I am a small feller and the bigger fellers don’t get there first .
Best Regards
Sarge
The Family
The Sarge
