re: #182 steve_davis

dad born in 29. In 2017, he was still bringing home those giant tubs you can find in Sam’s of gravy mix, etc. When he died, he had like 6 of those things in the house. He wasn’t suffering from dementia. I think he just had enough disposable income in the latter part of his life to where he was finally able to say “fuck it. i want it, I’m buying it,” when it came to food. He grew up on a farm, so they had food, but my grandfather told a story of a guy who used to show up at the creamery rail depot to do nothing more than spend two hours helping to load the big milk tanks onto the train taking it to NY City and Philly. He did it so that he could go home with a gallon of milk for his kids, ‘cause he wasn’t on payroll, ergo wasn’t getting paid for anything. That shit sticks with you.

MIL’s family (White) were dislocated sharecroppers who wandered the Depression South until they settled on the cousin’s place in TN. Her dad made a dollar a day picking fruit in Florida, while Blacks could demand only .50. When she should have been in gradeschool, she pulled a cotton sack through the fields (when she wasn’t down with typhoid). At that she was lucky—I knew a woman in Carter Co KY who pulled her husband’s single-share plow after their mule died.