I don't know how it happened. I came from a good home. My parents were both professionals in NJ and they stressed repeatedly the mantra, "Get An Education!!!" I'd never even seen a trailer up close and personal. I have a good vocabulary and all of my teeth. I wasn't pregnant by 14, and finally, the only time I'd been to Florida was to visit DisneyWorld. These were the prequalifications to being white trash, as I knew it and I didn't fit any of them. So, it never occurred to me that I was headed for a life that in so many ways could have me as a regular on Jerry Springer. At least to an outsider's perspective.
Since I was busy living my sordid life, I never realized what it would possibly look to someone that didn't know me and my struggles. I finally saw it one day in a conversation with my sister, when I listed my many past actions and came to the startling conclusion, which burst forth from my mouth in an anguished, astonished shout, "Oh My God!!!! I am white trash!" My sister gave a giggle at my realization and said that I wasn't until I pointed out that if I was talking about someone we didn't know, we would have been sure that the person I was describing fit all of the above listed stereotypes.
I haven't broken the news to my parents yet that they have raised a white trash woman. They will be devastated, so I have omitted certain circumstances of &/or actions that I've taken in my life. I've let them live in their little bubble. That's all about to change...
Mom, Dad... pass the honey baked ham & an ashtray, now have a seat on the front porch of my singlewide, I've got something to tell you....
No comments:
Post a Comment