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Thinking back!!

September 15th, 2008 at 04:01 pm

dh and I sat out on the back deck last night, listening to the creek and thinking back. We have both worked very very hard since we were young teens.
I remember wanted to move to the mountains before I turned 40! And we did it.
We came here not having any idea what we would do for a living. My dh drew house plans back in Florida.
In the N. Ga. mountains, there was very little building going on and no need for house plans.
We lived in a travel trailer for almost a year and my dh built our Lincoln Log home completely by himself. He could not find anyone to help him. (to hire) He lifted every log by himself.
After that, he got an offer to build another Lincoln Log home.
We became a dealer for Lincoln Logs, but we lived so far out of town, we had no lookers.
Finally someone contacted us. They would buy their home kit from us if dh would come to Franklin, N.C. to build the house. That was close to a 2 hour drive one way, but we wanted that commission so badly, he took the job.
He would drive there and spend days there, alone, at the job site. Again, he did everything alone except for help putting the roof trusses on.
He slept in the back of his van to save money and washed up in the creek.
He did that for months until he finished the house. It was a long and gruleing time for him.
I worked as a waitress. Most days I only made $20 for working all days, some days it was much less.
So, we both were working pretty hard.

Oh yes, the commission that we made for the sale of the house. It was around $1500 and we were so happy to get it!!

5 Responses to “Thinking back!!”

  1. debtfreeme Says:
    1221513640

    do you remember what year that was? I'd love to compare the cost of living then and now.

  2. ceejay74 Says:
    1221515543

    Wow, what a story. How old were you and your husband at the time?

  3. fern Says:
    1221571542

    It is satisfying to look back on your "early days" and see how far you've come. I remember when i was in my 20s, i could fit all of my worldy possessions in the back of my pickup. No way could i do that now, but the thought of being able to pick up and go so easily is very appealing to me.

  4. Ima saver Says:
    1221576244

    The year that we moved here was summer of 1984. I was just 3 months shy of being 40. My husband was 33, We bought an acre on the river for $13,000 in 1983 and built our house for about $70,000.

  5. davera Says:
    1221686851

    Julie, you and your dh are truly inspirational, and a tribute to the value of having goals and doing whatever it takes to achieve them, even when it involves personal hardship.

    Have you ever considered sharing your story with the high school students in your area on a career day or other school event? From what you have said about the work ethic in your community, they may not hear this message from their own parents. Yours may be only voice of hope they will hear.

    You are in a unique position to help them understand that it's not what life hands you but what you make of life that counts. On the outside, people may see a "millionaire lady" who drives a Corvette, doesn't have to work, and then conclude that's it's all just luck and never possible for them to achieve, so why bother to work hard or save.

    The example of you and your dh can show them a path to get there, even if they start out with practically nothing.

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