So now it’s like, I don’t have nobody there to tell me, well, this is how you gotta budget your money, you can only spend so much, you know. I never been through that because I used to pay room and board to my mother or room and board to whoever I slept with, you know what I mean, and they always provided the food. I never had to cook for me and my daughter or go food shoppin’. I go food shopping and it’s like I buy everything I want and I can’t afford everything I want, you know what I mean? I’m not talking about the necessities like toilet paper, milk, and household products and stuff like that. See, I’m not into this, you know, this is my first time having my own spot, you know what I mean?

That’s the only reason why I like this job, you know, because they get to go out places, and the homeless children as well as my own, they get to experience new things. They don’t have to just stay in the park or stay in the shelter or go into some other project park, you know? They get to see things that they haven’t seen. Go to circus, learn about animals, things like that, you know that? They get excited off that stuff. That makes me feel good to see that a child is enjoyin’ herself and because I’m a part of that, you know, that makes me feel good. I never got to do them things when I was a kid, you know, but my kids aren’t gonna live the life I lived. They gonna enjoy life, if I can help it. My life sucked. Sorry. It sucked. I been drugged, deprived, and it hurts, you know. I’m happy because I have kids, you know, and my kids make me happy. There’s nothin’ else in this world ’cause my kids make me happy. I might be down and out because I’m stuck with them, but those are are mine, and nobody will take that from me. As long as they’re happy, I’m happy. (Laughs.) And vice versa. As long as I’m happy, they’ll be happy.

Pat Gomes. Interviewed at the Salvation Army Day Care, Cambridge, where she was working part-time. 1989.