I believed in the “power of making-do”; I even wrote an essay about it 7th grade when they asked us to write “who inspires you?” and I wrote “my mom”. Got me a nice little award too. I don’t remember envying other houses; I looked down at standard-looking families because they seemed boring and dull to me. I looked up to families that were a bit chaotic but managed to hold things together despite having a diverse set of personalities under one roof. One kid I knew had a maid; i thought that was excessive. Another had a family that supported his baseball completely and I thought that was excessive (all the uniforms and things). I followed TV shows like “Fight back!” and read consumer reports as a kid; I saw scams everywhere and I hated that they convinced people to give them money for nothing much. There’s things I wanted; but I don’t think that’s the same thing as what I use to determine when “you’ve made it”. I still don’t know that answer. I guess being ok with yourself.

Got me a nice little award too.

I don’t remember envying other houses; I looked down at standard-looking families because they seemed boring and dull to me.

I looked up to families that were a bit chaotic but managed to hold things together despite having a diverse set of personalities under one roof.

One kid I knew had a maid; i thought that was excessive. Another had a family that supported his baseball completely and I thought that was excessive (all the uniforms and things). I followed TV shows like “Fight back!” and read consumer reports as a kid; I saw scams everywhere and I hated that they convinced people to give them money for nothing much.

There’s things I wanted; but I don’t think that’s the same thing as what I use to determine when “you’ve made it”. I still don’t know that answer. I guess being ok with yourself.