Poverty has some real advantages

Most people would say there is nothing good about being poor. In my experience, there are a few perks that are beneficial, although they are not always that obvious.

Probably the greatest perquisite is that being poor aroused my ambition to do something to better my life. Another perk is that I really appreciated what I received and, as a result, I take good care of it.

I experienced this as a child. The 1930s arrived following my parent's misfortune on top of misfortune including my father's debilitating illness, a house fire, crippling injury, months of hospital care and broken business agreements.

We always had plenty of food because we grew our own, but everything else was obtained on the basis of make do with whatever we could get. Quite often, our clothes were cast-offs from other people.

Because everything burned in the fire, Mother didn't even have hand-me-down clothes to make over for us. We wore whatever we could find. I remember how a box of used clothes from an anonymous source was a real treasure trove for our family.

Some of you are probably wondering what we did for footwear?

We wore whatever we could get our feet into. We usually had rubber boots, but often did not have any warm socks. Instead, we wrapped squares of cloth cut from burlap feed bags around our feet and suffered chilblains from near-frostbite every winter.

Later in life, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation closed my husband George's job site. He was out of work at an age when no one wanted to hire him. He took whatever job he could find, mostly of the seasonal variety. We often struggled to get ahead.

Tired of being "low man on the economic totem pole," I enrolled in college and earned my teaching certificate. I then taught school and we were able to put money away for the future.

Certainly, being poor presented us with challenges.

However, it was satisfying to stretch that miniscule income to cover a good nutritious diet by raising a garden, home canning, and cooking tasty meals "from scratch."

I sewed and learned to knit, making most of our clothing and filling other needs. I made "goodies" at home rather than buying them.

I planned and shopped judiciously. It wasn't much fun, but there's always real satisfaction in a job well done.