Sorry to keep you waiting for 9 days for my reply. I was on a break from Hive to take care of my health. I needed some fresh air and an outing. Now I’m back, so I can reply to you.
You mentioned your father. I can somewhat understand what it feels like to be without a father because mine went to Qatar for work for 3 years. It was tough for me, even though I had my father’s social network to support me. I can only partially grasp the challenges of being raised by a single parent. Your mom is definitely a hero for raising such a nice gentleman on her own. You are the result of all her struggles. If she is in heaven, she would be smiling to see how her little seed grew into a sweet cherry blossom.
Regarding poverty, I have already shared my part of the story.
About bullying, I’m not sure if you know the difference between cartoons and anime. If you do, I recommend an anime called "Lookism." I usually don’t cry, but watching "Lookism" made me cry. The bully beats the main character in front of his mom, and a grown man cries. The songs in the anime have very deep meanings. You will enjoy it, and it might change your perspective on a few things. If you are interested in anime, I also recommend "I Want to Eat Your Pancreas." If you prefer something that isn't about bullying, "Lookism" has about 4 times more watch time than "I Want to Eat Your Pancreas" and is definitely worth it. I cried at the ending too, and remember, I usually don’t cry watching anything online. Personally, I don’t remember facing any serious bullying.
Oh, first love. It hurts. No words here. I am not the best person to talk about relationships. I just know how to bow down and sacrifice to save a relationship. I usually win people and lose arguments even when I’m right and the other person is wrong. It’s very hard for me to hate someone I once loved. I also let go of my love if I get in the way of their freedom, dreams, and goals. They can leave if they want, but it’s hard for me to stop loving them. That’s just how I am. But humans change; maybe in 5 years, I will be a different person and this comment will be outdated.
How many of those friends who helped you and provided you shelter are still your friends?
I’m happy to see how you came out of poverty. If someone reads this in the future, I hope you can serve as an inspiration that change is possible.
About toys, my father didn’t buy me a lot due to his heavy responsibilities. I didn’t have donated toys, but I had a neighbor who bought a lot of toys. It was against my family traditions to play with toys that were not mine, so I couldn’t bring them home even if my friend wanted to give them to me. If you remember, I mentioned a lady in my blogs as the "Golden Sparrow." My grandma gave me money to buy my neighbor's toys because she knew I wanted his toys, not ones from a shop. You know how kids want that specific shiny thing. I used to buy his toys in bulk at a very cheap rate after he got bored of them. Some were even broken. When my dad saw me playing with a broken transformer truck, he went to a shop and asked for toy prices. The shopkeeper said 500 PKR, but when he noticed my dad couldn't afford it, he sold it for 300 PKR (he called my dad back after he had left the shop). Another thing about toys is that once, my cousin's bus and my ambulance clashed during play, and my ambulance broke because it was cheaper. Money can't buy happiness for sure, but it can buy good quality products.
About charity, I will cover that in your dedicated post.
Regarding Hive Crowdventure, I received your gift of 20 HBD. Each Crowdventure post has an allocated fund of $10, so for episodes 2 and 3, I will increase the budget to $20 per episode. How I use it, you’ll need to find out from episodes 2 and 3. One thing is sure: it will be a HODL.
Thanks for leaving a detailed comment. If you know, I give 1 Drawmatic to one lucky person per blog. It seems you won this blog's lucky comment reward. What's Drawmatic? It's a lottery that never expires and forever grows. So hold tight; maybe you’ll win big someday. I think you already received a few gifts from my side. If not Drawmatic, then SBI for sure. Karma pays back. You spent time reading and making me feel better. I hope you win big one day from Drawmatic. The way it's designed, you can buy one for yourself and one for a nominee at the same price: 1 Hive for 2 Drawmatic tokens. HP is staked forever, and its curation rewards are powered down. Instead of giving to all delegators, it pays to one delegator all the Hive. So it's a lottery that never expires and forever grows.
Quick reply :) No worries on 9 days to get a reply, I'm patient and you are very busy.
I don't know if I'll ever be inspiration for someone who is poor as every story is unique. However, if someone finds solace in knowing that someone else started collecting garbage and is now financially secure then I'd smile knowing my trials helped someone else.
As for those who were my friends from back in University? There were four of them. Tim, Cam, Mike and Jason.
Tim is one I no longer have contact with. Long and somewhat sad story about choosing the right person as a mate.
Cam I visited just last Monday. I still consider him a good friend but he never had children. It may seem like a small thing but a family man and a man without children have little in common and its hard to spend time together. Now that my children have grown, well, its time to start our friendship again.
Mike I have not seen for a long time. He has had a hard road. Having a child that is on the spectrum (autism) makes things challenging. Having a wife who cheated on him and raised his children in a questionable manner made it even harder. He shut himself off from the world for a while needing time to heal, however, he has started to rekindle old friendships and I'm looking forward to getting together with him soon.
I wish I could say that Jason was still a friend of mine. He had a genius that I wish I could someday compare to....but I'm not even close (and I won a Governor General award for academic achievement in 1987...proof available on the government website....although it was only a bronze award). He recently lost a battle with cancer and the world lost a wonderful person.
If you are curious perhaps I could find a picture of the crew from 30 years ago (when I was about your age)
As for the drawmatic and crowdventure...maybe you could send me a tag when the updates come out :)
Have a great day.
Yup, I am curious. :)