Coin by Terri Rimmer
Growing up in a middle-class family in the 70s we never wanted for anything. There was steak on the grill every Saturday night, parties in the basement, big meals at holidays, breakfast on the electric griddle at the kitchen table, plenty of Halloween candy and we never went hungry. Mom always shopped heartily and Dad always brought us treats and took us to ice cream and pizza parlors on weekends. At the movies we always got popcorn, candy, and Coke. The money seemed endless. Mom was a tightwad and Dad was a spendthrift. He always bought people things but never himself. He’d have the same clothes and shoes falling apart for years but everyone had everything they wanted for Christmas. We lived in a three-bedroom house with a basement, attic, and garage, washer and dryer, decent furniture, Dad had a workshop in the basement, we had a swing set and sandbox in the large backyard, a new driveway. We had two cars. Dad always decorated the house lavishly at Christmas and once when I h