by Barbara Lynn Terry

I came up from nothing

the daughter of a poor

hairdresser and waitress

I was sent to live with

grandma Dolly but they

were poor too barely scraping by.

I went to public schools, Catholic,

and institution schools too. I was

forced to endure many abuses but I

came out strong though damaged. For

years I wandered from job to job until

I found one I held for 24 years. But

I was just a poor cab driver in a small

city that was eleven on the list of big cities.

I was hard headed because I didn't let

people walk over me, and I ignored their

taunts and threats. I had enough of the

abuses and swore to protect what is mine

with a vengeance. I am a woman without means,

a poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks,

a girl from poverty. But I have friends ---

And that is what makes me the richest girl

in the whole wide world.

© 2011 by Barbara Lynn Terry