The only reason my family was forced to live there was because my father was a woman beating drunk and his brother owned the house..............big duplex......my grandparents lived on one side and we on the other.
We were basically poor so my uncle didn`t charge us much in rent.
It is what it is.
AS far as ESF goes,how does he know that I haven`t sewed up wounds with guitar string? LOL 
One thing I can say is that I`ve been hit by experts in my day...............still here to talk about it too.
You're childhood somewhat mirrors that of my stepdad. He was the youngest of a dozen or more siblings. His step-father was a raging drunk who worked in the coal mines. They were so poor, the Catholic church brought them food baskets. He fled his childhood Pittsburgh shanty as soon as he possibly could and never looked back. He was the best and most decent man I have ever met or known in my entire life. His having stayed with my mom for over 30 years until he died, should qualify him as a saint, if you believe in such holy ideas.
I am certainly not questioning whether you are tough. No doubt you are. On the other hand, I've managed to get through life with only one physical altercation when I was 14 years old. When I asked my stepdad to teach me how to box, he told me wise men don't win fights with their fists they win the with their wit. Like I said, he was an amazing man.
Don't get the idea that I am a wimp. When I was a teenager, I pulled a prong from three pronged trowel out of the middle of my foot after stepping on it and it going all the way through my foot. Then I continued with my gardening job as if nothing had happened so as not to freak out the people I was working for. Another time, I jammed a chunk of wood into my big toe and had to pull it out with pliers because it was lodged against the bone. I dropped a cast iron tub on my chin scraping it to the bone while trying to wrestle it downstairs by myself. My wife sent our son to find someone to help me get it the rest of the way out of the house. I Never had to sew myself up with a guitar string though, so you have me there.
