Today, we went to the local grocery store and I was getting some foods on my food stamps. While yes I have a job, when I got pregnant I did sign up for food stamps because I couldn't do bills and afford food that I needed. I was living off maybe 10 dollars a week, not eating much at all. That's all I had.

Anyway, they announced they were doing a drawing for a free bag of groceries and the person I was with told me to go get an entry.

I said no I don't want to.

So the woman gets a little upset and is saying things like well why not it's free groceries.

So I tell her, I'm already getting "free groceries" while I work and pay taxes, I am paying for my food with food stamps, not my paycheck (yet) and I don't deserve free groceries when there's people in there barely getting by and having to pay with what little checks they get.

She tells me that "she'll go get a ticket then because she's not too proud"

But it's not about pride. It's about that I know what it's like to not be able to hardly food and barely get by. Making 7.25 an hour and working my ass off to pay all but $100 a month in bills. Then having to afford gas to get back to that job only to be broke again.

Sure enough, an elderly man won that free bag of groceries and he was so happy too. That made me glad I chose not to get a stupid ticket because all the guy had in his cart anyway was milk and eggs. What if that's all he could afford?

I don't know his situation, but still. I didn't need to get any free groceries when someone else might be struggling.

I'm not proud to have to be using food stamps for my food. But it's not easy to find a job that pays enough to afford bills and to eat here. And that's not a good way to live.

I'm going to school to be an RN so hopefully I won't have to worry anymore, I hope. I feel really good about making the decision I made today though. Even if some people look down on me for it.