How Minimum Wage Made Me Rich

I was twelve when I first started working. I dedicated my time to the elderly, the babies and everyone who needed help in the small town we grew up in. I was and still am a very giving person, I'd work for free because I didn't see it as working, I was just doing what my heart was telling me to do--Be kind, gentle, loving and give with your whole heart! I used to tie grapes and save the money I received, buy new clothes and what little money I had left, spent on others. It made me so happy to buy gifts for the holidays and put a smile on someones face. I didn't necessarily care about the price tag, I cared about touching other peoples lives and making them happy, made me happy.

I babysat, cleaned houses and even though the title of this post is about Minimum Wage, I've never made minimum wage in my entire life. BUT. How much money I made and make is not what this post is about.

I was born with a strong work ethic. Put me in a crowd with some raging lunatics and I'll beat them to the finish line. I am very dedicated, focused and smart. Not book smart, to hell with college. I'm very common sense smart. Which is a part of me becoming rich. Bryan never went to college and he makes more than a seven year grad pharmacist. To become someone, you don't have to attend college. In fact, you will find that most successful people never went to college at all.

I could NOT wait for the day to come when I walked on stage and received my diploma. I graduated high school and that was the pudding on my banana. That's all I wanted. I had no desire to go to college. My brain wasn't there. I've always been the 'let me do what I want to do and leave me alone, I don't need anyone, I'll figure this thing we call LIFE out on my own!' and sure enough, i got what i wanted. To this day I claim: I get what i want, how i want and when i want!

I always had a job. I worked while i was in high school. Continued to show my strengths and became what was then an important title in my job description. I moved up quickly. I learn quick, work fast paced and get the job done properly. I was in charge of closing an entire store down all my myself and the keys to that store were placed in the responsible hands of this young lady while she was just in high school. That was something to be proud of.

I never thought about what I wanted to do, I just did it. I'm a firm believer that things happen in life when you least expect them. I just live and trust that this life will take me where it wants me to go! Where the road leads, I will follow. Except I'm not a follower, more of a leader. I cannot go full on in and do things a certain way someone else does. I must do things my way. I have a certain way I clean, do my business and I like the way I get anything done.

When I was eighteen I got pregnant and worked throughout. I landed a job being four months preggo in a pharmacy. Was I still young, absolutely. Didn't mean that I couldn't accomplish anything. I mean, this ankle swollen, chunk o runk had worked until the moment her water broke. Did my family abandon me because I was about to bring a child into the world? Not the ones whom I considered family. Bryan's parents were beyond supportive, giving and our complete backbone. If anyone in this world deserves the title of BEST MOTHER ALIVE, it goes straight to Robin. Life wasn't peaches and cream. In fact, we had many moments and although we did, our love was that much stronger, that much deeper. Life isn't about having an easy ride. It's having it hard at times and coming out on top that makes life meaningful!

Bryan and I both held jobs. We always had cars and places to live. And when we didn't, yes---we turned to family. That's what family is for and if you can't turn to anyone let alone family then that is really sad. I personally have family members who judge, who think this or that and the truth is, they know nothing. But that has never affected my life. My life consists of beautiful people who love you regardless of the fact that you had a baby young, you didn't go to college and you wipe ass for a living. Those are the people that we LOVE and they LOVE us back and that my friends is what you call a beautiful life.

We owned our first home when we were 21. I moved on to work in a privately owned pharmacy, making minimum wage, LOL and bryan continued to work wherever. Oh that's right. He was a sanitation engineer aka garbage collector making minimum wage as well. We bought two very expensive dogs and had our own little family going on in a white house with blue shutters. Was it the best. Yes....to us it was our place, we made memories, tore down the place and re-built the entire interior, bought new appliances and all that on minimum wage!

Before long, Bryan and I both knew that we wanted our own positions, to be our own bosses and live the life we wanted, the way we wanted. Bry purchased things and built his landscaping business. It was extremely successful and he couldn't have done it without his previous minimum wage jobs.

We went on to have another baby in this very home. During this time went on several vacations, and decided that it would be nice to make our travels our new home destinations. We sold that house and ventured off. Didn't turn out. We got into a major car crash destroying everything but our bodies. We have no idea how we survived but we did and turned to family once again. Even if we attended college, we would have still needed family at this time because college wasn't saving our asses and money was not an issue. We flew home, couldn't get into a place no matter how much money we wanted to give and money is not always a factor when things like this happen. At times, you need your family and what family decides to judge any part of your life or anyone else's is no family of mine!

There were and still are many times when we need/want something that we think money will buy. No matter how much money we had/have, we still couldn't get it. Money doesn't buy everything. And neither does our college degrees.

Although money is nice to have and does allow you to survive to a certain extent, money is not the apple of our lives. Our lives are much more fruitful letting the money stack high.

Is this our money? Are these all one hundred dollar bills. Does it matter? You can guess how much we have in cash. You can think that all we make is minimum wage and have nothing in life that makes our lives fruitful. You can think that my blog is a piece of crap, that my children shouldn't have been born because I was not married or my photos on picplz are a joke. You know NOTHING about me, my life and how minimum wage has made me rich.

The amount of money we have in cash doesn't make our lives more meaningful. The amount we have in the bank doesn't either. The amount in stocks we have or the amount of money we have in different countries. We still work and would for nothing (less than minimum wage) because that's the type of people we are. We are wealthy but that doesn't change the person I am which is loving, giving, kind, non-judgemental, beautiful, created two magical daughters with an amazing man without being married because a piece of paper doesn't define our love, who lives a very FRUITFUL life without you in it.

I currently work in a high class deli in Naples, FL while Bryan works at one of the largest companies in the entire world. We both make decent money. We brought two daughters into the world without a piece of paper approving, at a young age and provided a good life for them. That's something we are both proud of whether we have a college degree, money or a roof over our heads. Our love is THICKER than ever and you can take that to the Judgemental Family Court!