What We Didn’t Have Then

The more he earned, the more he thought about all that he had gone without growing up in Mobile. He would make up for it now, lavishing his new earnings on friends as well as himself. One shotgun might have sufficed, but he had to have fifteen. Casting a line from shore was okay in Mobile’s Down the Bay ghetto, but not he needed a boat along with new fishing gear. “It was like being a kid again – being a kid for a guy who never really had a chance to be one,” he said.

Satchel, Larry Tye

Satchel Paige didn’t grow up in the greatest of circumstances. He was one of several kids. At an early age, he had to get a job in order to help support the family. He didn’t have what many people who call a “normal” childhood. Of course, he also didn’t know any different at the time.

Growing up, I was never really aware of my family’s financial situation. My dad worked quite a big, but only one job. Mom stayed at home. Of course, in the 1980’s that sort of thing was possible. It’s much more difficult to make ends meet these days with the cost of living going through the roof.

Sometimes, I look back at my days in seminary and wonder how in the world we were able to pay rent, utilities, car payments, groceries, and whatever else on how little we were making at the time – a small fraction of what we make now. But, we did it. Now, we did it without kids, and maybe that was the key. I don’t know.

Have you ever wondered why so many lottery winners end up bankrupt after a few years? It’s because they’ve not had a lot of money, and so, they have no idea how to handle money. It doesn’t take long to blow through a lot of cash if you’ve never had that much before. Like Satchel, we have a tendency to spend it on whatever we want, thinking that it will never run out, because we have no idea how long that kind of money can last. Unfortunately, some find out the hard way.

I’m not going to pretend that my family doesn’t make a good income right now. I have absolutely no complaints about my salary or my living situation. My wife and I bot have good jobs that pay us more than we’ve ever made. One of my goals in life is to be able to provide for my kids, so they never have to worry about money. I’ll worry about the bills and the bank account. They just need to be kids who know they are loved and taken care of. Maybe I can give them a solid foundation, and they can have a better life than me. I think that’s the dream of every parent.