i was sitting at the dinner table with my mom the other day. we're not what you would consider "close" b/c there is such a language barrier, so we've never communicated much. but somehow we got to talking about my parents' lives in Cambodia and Thailand. she tells me about how if it weren't for the Khmer rouge, she wouldn't have met my dad. they drove he and my grandmother from their village in Cambodia. unfortunately, while fleeing, my grandfather got separated and they'd never reunite again. when my parents were in thailand, my dad farmed to live and my mom used to peel shrimp....for 25 cents/day. just thought i'd share.
one day my mom was taking me to work when because my car wasn't running recently. we were driving down westview in spring branch. my mom is 68. she says when she was thirteen she had to get out and work because they were poor and she had to clean people's houses on that street.
I used to be a picky eater. Then, when I lived in a one-bedroom apartment at 21 years old, I was low on cash. One day, I went to the fridge, and all I had was a packet of ketchup. So, a few days later, I visited my mom and dad. Mom made a nice home-cooked meal, and I wolfed it down. At the peas. Ate the onions. At the carrots. Ate the beef. My mom said, "I didn't think you liked peas." I said, "I don't. Could you please pass the peas?" After living on ramen noodles and ravioli for a few years, I was no longer a picky eater.
i hear you dude, after one year in college i eat the 50 cent pot pies and 20 cent ramen noodles like every day
Too many to name My mother told me about when she was young they had to pick 100 lbs of cotton before going to school in the morning QUESTION: What stories will/do you tell your kids? Rocket River
I've heard many over the last four months. It's really put my life in perspective. Yeah, I'm going through something really ****ty right now, but I have a roof over my head, two great jobs, awesome friends/family and my biggest problem today (other than the whole divorce thing) is that I don't know where to watch the game tomorrow. Keep these stories with you all the time. I'm such a lucky individual and if I ever try to get down about some aspects of my life, I always remember how great I really have it.
I am always amazed at the great lengths my parents went to make sure my sister and I had everything we need. I remember when I was young my Dad worked at Brown and Root(spelling) now KBR. He got laid off and decided to go to school to be a Nuclear Medicine Technologist. He went to school 8 hours a day then went to work at a crappy convenience store until midnight 5 days a week. Saturday he worked 7 am to 7pm. Sunday he had off but he spent much of the day doing stuff that needed to be done around the house an going to church with us. Even after he finished school and was working at MD Anderson he worked at the store to pay back the loans, etc. My mom almost always worked nights as a nurse so someone could always be home with us (dad at night, mom during the day) Sometimes she would work 16 hours shifts to get the OT pay on weekends. I barely make it through 8 hours at a desk. I can't imagine being on my feet 16 hours straight. They did all this stuff just to keep my sister and I in Catholic school from K-8th. When My dad got laid off the second time many years later my mom moved to the valley with some of my family who already lived there to join a new hospital that paid very high wages and had huge signing bonuses. She did that for three years. She came home every other week which I know sucked for a mom who was attached very much to her family. I have some f'ing real deal parents. They never did one thing for themselves. it was always about my sister and I and helping out their family in India.
I can't hear so don't take your hearing for granted! My mom and all of her siblings had to pick cotton in Chicago when she came from Mexico at the age of 15. They went through a flood in Mexico and they lost their house by the river (13 kids in a small house). My grandma is AMAZING and I look up to her besides my mother.
"Ya know, boy/girl... When you were a baby, your mother and I socked away a ton of money to provide you with a strong eduction, which allowed you to get a great job, which brought you great wealth. But don't let the mansions, money, and glitter cloud the reality that your successes were founded by the love and sacrifice of your family. Always appreciate others, the work that they do, and their individuality, and always spread that love and appreciation to your kids."
i remember back in 1986 when my dad lost his job and we had to sell our toys so we would have money to move to my grandma's. then we lived in a one "bedroom" trailer and my mom and sister slept on one bed and my brother, dad, and I shared a bed til my dad could get us back on our feet. you don't realize what's going on when you're a little kid but when you look back you're like damn.
I'm going to tell my kids about being on the clutchfans board, and how helpful they can be while simultaneously being smart-asses. Also how the Nickelback hate threads never stop, even when they are threads praising them, and of course I will end my story with a question. The question will be... Hispanic? Those kids will have it easy on forums!
I tell my kids that growing up we had 5 channels on tv and if the knob broke on it we always had a wrench next to it to change the channels.
I guess I'll tell my kids, whe I was young i didn't have a remote for the tv, so i had to change the channel for everyone or adjust the volume because i was the youngest.
I will tell them that there was a time when ISDN was considered high speed internet and that I had to download mp3s from websites and public ftp sites on oth.net.
"Back in our day, we were forced to listen to Britney Spears. We had to go down to the movie store to pick up bulky VCR takes and watch videos on our 2d screens"
When my dad was little he lived in a shack with my grandparents made of basically cardboard and scrap wood in Mexico. He had to stop going to school when he was 7 to help make a few extra cents a day. They literally lived on beans and homemade corn tortillas. Fast forward to now: Making $175K+/yr, runs his own company, owns his house and about 10 trucks. My father is a terrible husband, so/so father, but an inspiring person.
my parents used to walk upwards of 5 miles each day coming to and from school back in pakistan. now theyre successful physicians, and i try to keep that in mind when sometimes i think school is getting too hard.
I knew my grandmother was an orphan (her dad wasn't dead, but he wasn't around much) and raised by her aunt, but I just recently found out how. When she was 6, she watched her mother and grandmother burn to death from a coal oil lamp breaking and pouring burning oil all over them.
