I also had to do farm labour (picking fruit) before I was legally allowed to work at 14. I was taken advantage of (financially) that whole summer - underpaid, and occasionally worked an entire day and got stiffed outright. I’ve never stopped working since then (I’m in my early 50s), aside from a few months of unemployment between jobs that was more stressful than working. I’ll likely have to work until I die.

Fuck that shit.

My kids are 18 and 20 and as long as they’re in school, it can stay that way. Once you start, you don’t stop. I’ll let them enjoy it as long as they can.

I read somewhere that you should never look down on anyone for mispronouncing a word because it means they learned it by reading.

As a childhood bookworm, that lesson stuck with me.