Lessons learned...and what they mean

As I started outside this morning to shovel another bright fluffy layer of white goodness, with the wind chill at –10F, I also began reminiscing about why I was headed out in the first place. Let me add that I am suffering from a lovely head cold, with a temperature of 100.5 and mucus running out of my nose like tears sliding down the cheeks of a child. But in order to explain I have to fill you in on some of my life experience.
I grew up in a household with three siblings. Our parents did not have extra income when I was young. We barely scraped by for the most part. So when the snow fell, or the wood needed to be split to keep us warm, or the vegetable gardens had to be weeded to keep us fed, or the animal chores had to be done to have meat, we children were the ones who did it. Both my older sister and I paid a lot of sweat equity for those lessons. If we didn’t do them, no one would. Our parents were both very hard to provide for us. We didn’t have the extra cash to pay someone else to do these chores. It was often we, or starve (or go cold, etc).
I don’t resent my parents for teaching me this lesson the hard way. I can reflect back over my 30-something years and see that lesson has more than paid for the price inflicted on my childhood. I didn’t rely on financial aid from the government, from loans, or from my parents to put myself through college (I’m nearly finished with my doctorate). I earned my way, not relying on anything or anyone. I don’t fault the people who do, but I am proud of the fact that I did not. I worked my way up my company’s ladder over 13+ years, to the point that I am now. Again, I relied on no one.
So consequently, here I am again, out here shoveling, not because I have to (since I can afford to call a plow truck to do this for me) but because I want to. It is ingrained in my personality. Thank you, parents. You have done a wonderful job raising your child.