As much as I like looking back in time at the events that have led me to where I am today I will say there were sad times that I try to avoid remembering.
All my siblings and I have come a long way in life considering the meager lifestyle we endured as kids in a 1950's Bandera family.
We were not alone as I recall. Many of our friend's families struggled too just trying to get by.
It was a different world back then. It was more about survival rather than trying to get ahead. It was making do with what we had while hoping and praying for things to get better.
People's attitude was different during those times.
Seems there was an unwritten code that people would just help others when they could. No committees or organizations. Just neighbor helping neighbor.
Those were the days of large gardens so that canning vegetables was possible and sharing the extra with the neighbors was what you did.
I became quite handy at making cardboard insole cutouts for my shoes. They worked well except in wet weather.
Shoes had to last until new shoe buying time for the next school year came around. Splicing shoelaces was an art I mastered as well. Now those socks with a hole in the toe were a real struggle.
I can look back at those times now and have a better understanding of the difficulties we faced.
As a kid it never really entered my mind that we might be considered poor. I recall my dad like many others struggling to find work at times and my mom at home working to hold things together.
In addition to babysitting and doing ironing to make money for our family needs my mom worked like a slave taking care of her own brood.
She also provided neighborhood ambulance service on occasion in our old Chevy truck when the need arose. Going down the gravel backstreets while running errands with my mom in that old truck is how I learned to drive.
That thought alone washes away many bad memories.
Looking ahead from my current Growing Up In Bandera situation I must say that I'm a bit nervous. I hope I'm wrong but I don't see lots of folks possessing the grit it's going to take to survive what's coming.
We are going to need more enlightenment and less entitlement if we are to survive. My opinion, for what it's worth.
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