I was born during the financial boom. And I grew up in the financial crisis. It was very strange how one day I could have all the toys I wanted if I just batted my eyelashes at my dad, and the next I couldn't even get some gum because my dad kept saying we couldn't afford it.

Maybe I was a bit of a slow child, but I didn't understand what was going on, and my parents didn't explain it, so all I heard about it was that we couldn't afford stuff. We were never really poor, but my parents were cautious and there was a definite change in spending. I thought we were poor. This lead to some embarrassing situations that I'll spare you off, mostly because I cringe at the memory.

I don't know how to explain what it was like, I just really didn't understand. Like if my dad gave me money to do the groceries and I got some small item he hadn't told me to (I remember this happening with nail polish remover), he yelled at me saying I should know money was tight, but I was so confused because it was only a couple of dollars, and just a short while before that I could've gotten a Barbie that cost seven times that.

There was also a lot of selling stuff. My brother did a year at a boarding school, and I wanted to do the same, but my dad kept saying we didn't have the money (my mother didn't think it was fair that we offered it to my brother but not to me, so she kept pushing for it), and we eventually sold our boat so I could go. That was just one example. If I ask my dad about the trust fund I know my grandfather set up for me, he'll say I can't have it because they spent it on my boarding school stay. Things like that happened.