Whom among us comes from a humble background?

Andrew, care to explain further? ;)

Nick, you must've done your family proud. Your mom reminds me of my father, who never really knew his "real dad" because he abandoned the family when Dad was an infant and ended up passing away before my father was an adult. My dad was raised by his grandmother, though; that's the difference. And yeah, we were fairly "comfortable" by the rest of our family's standards too, but also had to cut corners.

Jerry the Nipper -- I kinda thought this thread was a bit different from that thread... ?

(It feels good relating this to someone who can understand these kinds of family dynamics. Thank you.)

This thread isn't that different from parts of the posh thread, though. Unless there's a difference between poor and humble that I don't get?

(then cries)

On dad's side the family was a little better off, having moved from Germany to Iowa and then to the Northwest side of Chicago in a few generations. The house my grandfather on that side lived in is still standing, way way way west of Wrigley Field. Apparently that generation had some sort of business building/designing sights for WWII-era bombs? Kinda weird to consider since they were German.

Anyway, I am definitely the recipient of the tenacity of two earlier generations. Unfortunately I doubt that any descendants I have will be able to say the same about me.

My sister was the first person in my family to stay in school beyond 15. I was the first to attend university. Both my brother and my sister later attended university. No-one that I know of in my extended family (various cousins and 2nd cousins) has ever been to university.

My parents bought a flat in a tenement when they got married, for some ludicrous sum. It had one living room, two bedrooms (one for my parents and one for the three kids), a scullery (no kitchen), no inside toilet and no inside bathroom. It was basically a slum. When I was about 8 years old, we got the chance to move into some new council houses on a new estate - which we did with alacrity and considerable pleasure. The houses were nice and so was the estate - this being when councils still built housing. That's where I grew up. It's not a humble background because it's not any different form anyone else I knew when I was growing up.

just because you're related to someone doesn't mean shit. b/c you share blood you're supposed to get along with, like and maintain relations with people? no way. . .

i've told my story many times here. first, and only, person on either side of the family to go to college. not that it seems to have done me any good. . .

I was brought up in a council flat (my parents still live there). We weren't really poor but we were certainly at the lower end of the scale. I didn't really notice at the time, it was all I knew.

I grew up in a little house in the country. The place my parents still live at.

And though I now live in a rather big house in town, this house is (i)ugly as fukk & (ii)not mine, as I own only a minor "flat" part of it.
(And even that might be not for very long, as my wife has decided, once again, that she wants us to move apart. Some fucking spring.)

My mother left school aged 16, with good exam results, but her parents couldn't afford to send her to university because my grandfather (a POW who stayed in this country after the war) was a hospital worker and my gran a till worker. She currently earn near minimum wage as a typist. All three of my dead grandparents left nothing in their wills after they died.

Oh, here's a giggle: when I went to university, I missed the cutoff point for parental income where they pay your tuition fees for you by £230. Hysterical.

i find i can't relate to people who grew up wealthy well at all.

This I totally empathise with.

thirded. I guess that's one of the reasons I've stuck in this hell-hole school. i'd rather not teach at all than go someplace where kids grow up in comfy suburbs and don't have to shop with food stamps.

yanc3y that's cool about your mom. I've been trying to convince my mom to go back but she thinks she's too old (at 50!). :(

Growing up, we were on the low end of the income scale for where I grew up, but not exceedingly broke. Just standard working-class, I guess - one or two used cars, vacation was a camping trip, etc..

I can't imagine owning a home, either. And given that my grandfather just turned 80 and still works every day (doing some fucked-up shit for an elderly man), retirement isn't a concept I understand.

who does he work for? Mr Burns??

yeah my grandparents "retired" to social security. maybe I'll end up with a pension. maybe.

This I totally empathise with.

thirded.

Fourthed. Just the opportunities that are so casually discussed, discarded, taken... Like being told by my (rather more well off) girlfriend's dad when i was 21 that i should work for him for free at the TV show he produced, for experience, and having to explain that, no, i needed to get a job that paid some money immediately i graduated university.