[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

I can relate to this.
I considered myself lucky growing up, as what we called middle class then. My dad worked hard and started his own upholstery shop in the mid 60s after I was born, we never went without as he progressed into owning larger premises and finally producing new furniture with a workforce of around 60 guys and owning a large company. We had the flash double story house, a holiday house on a southcoast beach, the boat, new cars every year, mum and dad traveled extensively OS twice a year.
But as he got older he must have thought there must be more to this, just as I left school at 15 years (me being the youngest of 3) he simply staged his own disappearance, with all the company funds and leaving his workers with nothing.
I remember coming home from work and my mother and brother waiting at the station for me to tell me. I can not really say I was shattered, I think I was more angry, that he left my mother with a second mortgage and no job to pay for it and that's apart from the company money being channeled overseas (as we later found out) (he also sold me my first car with money owing on it)
He had gotten re married to a rich American women in the Dominican Republic (whilst still married to my mother) and living in Florida.
My brothers and I rallied around my mother supporting an income to pay the house off until my mother landed a good job in the CBD.
We simply got it done.

Fast forward 25 years and the old man came back to Oz to live after the rich American died, passing her wealth onto him.
He's a jammy old boy as he sold up and got top dollar in the US just before Sept 11 then getting back over here in time to buy a cheap ex corporate apartment from the Sydney Olympics.
We do all get along to a point but I would never trust him totally again.

Life has been full of ups and down but I would never trade it. Yes I do like to look back and remember the good and bad.

Its one of those things. Sometimes you just have to look at the good before the bad.