When Did You Realize Your Parents Were Behind on the Bills?

Hey friends, J.R. Bjornson here better known as Blind Guy Comedy. Very nice to meet you if you’re new around here! You can usually catch me on YouTube, TikTok, and really anywhere I can post a video.

I want to ask you something... When did you realize growing up that maybe your parents were behind on the bills a little bit? Quick side note. This blog was written with the help of AI. In the video I spoke from the heart, but to make my workload less, I use AI to help me write this blog post. I love being transparent. It's the best motto in my life. So enjoy the rest of the Blog and if you're interested in watching the video it's at the bottom of this Blog. Now back to our regularly scheduled topic in motion.

As a kid, I never really noticed. I just thought things were the way they were. But looking back, there was a moment that stuck with me.

The Coldest Two Weeks of My Life

It was around 1999 or 2000, and I was about 10 years old. One September morning, I woke up freezing. The whole house felt ridiculously cold, and it stayed that way for about two weeks.

To keep warm, my mom would wake me up and say, “Come on, let’s go downstairs. The oven is on.” So we’d all gather around the open oven in the morning just to get the chill out of our bones.

When I asked her what happened to the furnace, she told me, “Oh, it’s just not working right now.” And being a kid, I accepted that. But years later, I started wondering... was the furnace really broken, or were we just behind on the bills?

Lessons I Carried Into Fatherhood

Now that I’m grown with five kids and an amazing wife, that memory is one of my biggest motivators. I promised myself that if I ever had children, I would do everything in my power to make sure at least the gas and electricity were always paid. Because nothing haunts you like the thought of your family being cold in their own home.

I eventually learned that our gas came from underground, through natural pipelines, and it clicked. The furnace probably wasn’t broken... It was likely just turned off because we were behind.

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The Things Parents Don’t Say

I never asked my mom if that was the case. Maybe she didn’t want me to worry. Maybe she didn’t want to admit we were struggling. And being Indigenous, she probably carried extra weight with that stigma. Back then, even now asking for help often came with judgment, stereotypes, and unfair assumptions.

That’s something I’ve realized as an adult. Parents often protect their kids from the truth, thinking they’re sparing them. But I sometimes wonder if I would have wanted to know, just so I understood what was going on.

Your Turn

So I’ll put the question to you. Did you ever have a moment as a kid when things felt a little “off,” and later you realized it was because your family was behind on bills? Maybe it was borrowing a neighbour’s shower, or using candles when the lights went out. Were your parents upfront about it, or did they shield you from the truth?

Share your story in the comments of this YouTube video. I’d love to hear it.

And as always, thanks for reading and being part of this journey.

You can watch the full video version of this story below 👇