Wow, I could write a book but I'll keep it short.
My father comes from a good family, his father was successful, his brother was successful but he has almost insisted on not being so. To be fair he's a Vietnam vet and everybody he knows said it changed him but I think it was more because of drugs and alcohol than any actual combat he may have seen.
After coming back (I was two at the time) he got a decent job working for the city of Columbus but after five years he quit because he didn't want to punch a time clock anymore or be under the thumb of "the man". He did odd jobs, worked for his brother, he painted (pictures, not houses) and tried to sell them at yard sales. He went to landfills and scrounged through people's garbage on trash days looking for stuff he could sell at yard sales. My mother left him (and us) in 1980 and we headed out west went gold went up to $800 an ounce. He was convinced he could make a living panning for gold. The four of us lived in a camper for 4 months starving and freezing to death as he went from creek to creek looking for gold. He found about $8 worth in that time. He then met some other vet that had a cabin with no electricity nor running water and we stayed there for a little over a year. His parents finally came out to see us and when they found us they took us away from him (they were actually going to call CPA on him) and we headed back home. All was good with them for a few years and then he showed back up. His parents bought him a small place us to live on their street so they could keep an eye on them. He got a job sewing tarps which lasted about 6 months until he came up with his next brilliant plan. He'd always fancied himself a songwriter, he had maybe 100 that he'd written down on paper. His plan was to convince the executor of our trust fund (money left to us by my mother's mother for college) to let him borrow money to form a band, make some demos and hit it big. So now he wasn't working at all, his mother who always had high hopes for him that finally something would go his way supported his decision although his father was totally against it. We were also living off of our (my brother, sister and I) trust fund money for college. That money ran out, he never hit it big, the band was terrible and the demos laughable.
Tragically his parents died, both within a year of each other of cancer. He inherited a good chunk of money and we headed back out west. He bought a lot with a trailer on it out in the middle of the desert. If you ever saw Veags vacation just think of cousin Eddy's place. I endured 3 years there before I was able to escape to the military and thankfully, by the grace of God have led a charmed life.
Things have changed out in that sleepy little desert town outside of Las Vegas. He's still there but the place has grown and he now has neighbors. He's always been a pack rat and his place is one of those places that drive down surrounding property values. When you pass his place you literally slam on the break so you can stare and say "WTF!". His place is full of his 20 years of yard sale purchases. For example he once dropped $200 on an old popcorn machine because he thought he might open his own restaurant or bar someday. He was old cars and trucks that he intended to fix up someday but never has. He even bullied my brother into buying one when he became old enough to drive, he wanted him to buy a fixerupper so he could teach him how to work on cars, be self sufficent as he put it. The car was a money pit, my brother put what little money he had got from what was left of our trust fund into it and the first time he drove it he nearly died because one of the wheels fell of while he was doing 60 down the highway. The tire narrowly missed a family of four coming the other way. I lent my brother the money to get out as soon as he graduated high school.
When my sister decided it was time to leave he had a fit. He told her that he needed her around the house to cook, clean and go to the store for him. When she insisted he screamed at her "you're leaving just like your mom did!". Years later when she was putting herself through school she asked him for some financial help (you know, maybe payback a little of that trustfund money) and he again screamed that the money went to support us, he was a single parent and it wasn't easy, my mother never helped him at all (which was true).
Now a little about his woman, the one he's been with for the last 24 years. If you walked into the trashiest trailer park and picked the worst skank she'd still be better than this one. This woman must be a witch because from the day he met her she's had him wrapped around her finger. She's used him from day one, her life has consisted of drinking Pepsi, chain smoking, watching trash TV and reading the tabloids (the trashier the better). She's on her last legs as of now but she's still draining him. When we were kids he'd never buy us clothes or shoes, he'd go down to the salvation army with his sad single parent story and get freebies from them, always second or third hand with yellow stains in the armpits of the shirts, pants that never fit properly and shoes that gave us plantar warts. But her, whatever she asked for was hers. He once payed over $200 for her to have some glamour photos taken (HIDEOUS LMFAO!). She once met this do-gooder woman that felt sorry for her because all of her teeth were rotten so she paid to have them pulled and for dentures. However, she didn't tell my father of this generous woman, she told him that SHE was paying for it herself and asked him for helped which of course he did. I have about 100 of stories just like this about her shafting him and him either being to dumb to realize it or too much of a coward to confront her.
The last bit is perhaps the funniest in my mind. He was taking care of this old woman that lived near him. The deal was that when she died she'd leave everything to him. She lived ten years and all during that time he drove her to the doctor, took care of her yard, house, whatever she needed. She died during the housing bubble. After the house was his the neighbor offered him $200,000 cash for it. Nope, he was going to use it as storage for all of his overflowing junk and old cars, trucks, popcorn machines and all the rest of the black widow spider infested junk on his property. Well last about two years ago times got a little tough and he decided he needed to sell the place to make ends meet. He asks the guy if his offer still stood What do you think his answer was? LMFAO! Now he's tring to sell the place on craig's list because he ain't hiring no crook realtor. He's asking less than half of what was offered him by the neighbor and still no bites.
I could go forever. There's stories of his y2k preparation, his new found religion Urantia, [censored] therapy, his arrst for theft because went went to the lumber yard and they were closed on Sundays so he hoped the fence, took what he needed and left an IOU with his name address on it which maybe it incredibly easy for the police to find him. There's a story of an old RV he bought with the rusted out septic tank that he figured didn't need fixin' because a little poo on the ground never hurt anyone. I'd better stop right now.
