365 Days of Impacts

I did not know either of my grandfathers. My mother's father, John D. Poteete worked for Ford Motor Company in Detroit. He took Nana away from Alabama to the motor city in search of work for the automobile industry in the 40s. Unfortunately, he liked to gamble at the Hazel Park Racetrack, and most weeks would blow his entire paycheck and drink himself silly. Nana basiically kept the family financially afloat, working during the days leaving Mom and Uncle Johnny to take care of themselves. Sometimes John D. would come home so drunk, mom would have to peel him out of the bushes and put him to bed.  Think about your childhood and compare it to that.  Mom grew up on 5 Mile road, an area of Detroit that is now not super desireable to live in. Nana eventually left him and went back to Alabama, but never divorced him as divorce was not an option in the 50s. It was frowned upon.  You could separate, but not divorce.  They remained married until he passed away on a bus i...

The first major death in my life was my maternal Grandmother, Wilna Poteete. This was the first time I dealt with the emotion of grief. Nana literally was my world when I was a little girl. Our lives revolved around her coming to visit or us going to visit her. When she fell ill, I was a Junior in High School. The reason I remember this is that she was able to come to Christy's high school graduation, but she was not alive for mine. This was devastating to me. When Nana got sick, Mom had to leave us with Dad and go to Alabama to take care of her for a few months. She had heart disease and had had a heart attack. While Mom was gone, Christy was in her first year of College at Wayne State University in Detroit, so she was gone all day. Dad worked from 5am to 6pm down at Highland Park for Chrysler. Needless to say, I had a lot of time on my hands to think. Sure I had a lot of after school activities, but I was by myself a lot. One of my "chores" was to cook dinne...

One of the things that I am most thankful for in my life is the lesson my maw and paw taught me about personal responsibility financial fortitude. I got this from my parents who lived on 50K a year for a family of 4 in 1983. Granted, this was almost 40 years ago, but that is still not a lot of money even back then. I cannot stress the importance of this lesson enough: When I drove their cars, I was to be respectful and not showboat or do stupid stuff (minus the time Rich Jolly put the red car in neutral at a light and slammed the car into drive, effectively dropping the transmission) - like let another person drive.   Their property, their money - it was to be respected.   We were not brought up on a "disposable" mindset. No matter what it was, when we purchased it, we were expected to take good care of it so that it lasted longer. When I went to college, they cosigned on a student loan that I HAD TO PAY BACK (thanks MOM).   When I turned 18, I went to college,...