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Our time with either parent came close to non-existent~our father was living elsewhere and our mother was working double time to keep our heads above water. However, whenever she could she would find somewhere special for us to go together away from the city. Camping in the mountains, visiting our grandparents on their land or taking long drives to New Mexico.
My father had it just as bad and lived in a one-room apartment with a hot plate and a small bed. We would take our sleeping bags when we stayed with him. I didn't recognize things as being difficult as he would always have new tools for me to use and what to make of them would preoccupy me. Once he acquired a set of old dental tools for me and gave me bars of ivory soap to carve into sculptures. He taught my brother how to fish with a spear and as I got older he let me use his knife to carve wood.
