Riding Out the Recession

As we look forward to the New Year, we should all take a deep breath and say to ourselves, “It won’t be like this forever.” People are out of work. Retailers are suffering. Homes are being foreclosed on and stores are going out of business. I’m not going to get political here because I don’t believe it would be any different if that other party were now in the White House. You can’t bring a nation like ours out of a recession overnight. Enough said on that front.

In my own future, I see Nanci and I living here for another year after this before we can move on from here. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to live in an apartment and have to tolerate charges that are unnecessary, and rent raises, with no increased amenities.

You also have to put up with all the little aggravations inherent in living in a huge apartment complex like this. Like garage doors that make a racket when they go up under the apartment. It’s like living in very close proximity to a couple thousand or more people. I figure that this complex could probably house everyone who presently lives in the South End. However, we have made a home here for the time being. We are “riding it out.”

We must all have hope for the future. You never know what might be around the corner. Looking back only makes you depressed. What “might have been” are three words we should discard from our vocabulary. We can do it if we stick together and help each other out when we can.

As I’m writing this blog, the desk under my computer is moving. It cost me all of $50 dollars when we moved in here and I think the $50 dollar use I hoped to get out of it is about up. So when it goes I’ll probably go to Goodwill or someplace similar and see if I can replace it “for the time being.” My point is, we have to compromise in times like this and realize things are indeed only temporary.

On that note, I would like to mention a few things I’ve had to adjust to since the flood. It’s like a selective reasoning process I think. When you have only a few hours to gather belongings you’ve had for the better part of 30 years or more, you have to be selective. What do I really have to take with me. What can I live without.

When we finally got everything moved into this place, I couldn’t remember exactly what I had and what I didn’t until I needed it. For instance, somewhere in my selective reasoning process I decided not to gather up a lot of the little things lying around the house that could be replaced. One of those things was the little straw sewing basket my mother gave me years ago. So one day after we’d moved in I found I needed to sew on a button. Guess what? When I went to look for that basket, it wasn’t there. I had forgotten that I hadn’t replaced it yet; therefore, I had to go out and get a small sewing repair kit to use “for the time being.”

There have been several instances like that since we moved here. We still need more cooking dishes. I really need a new desk. Some new socks would be great too. Out of those three things guess what I’ll probably purchase. Yep, the socks. The rest can wait while we “ride it out.”

I know that if there are people older than I reading this blog, they will say, “Yes. We had to do the same kind of things during the Great Depression.” They had to ride out that terrible period in our country and they came out stronger for it. We should follow their example. Things will get better. Trust me.

Thanks for listening.

NOTE: In my Christmas Letter I forgot to mention the fun time we all had down at Sandy Beach this summer when some of my blogger fans got together with me for a picnic. Let’s try to do it again next summer. O.K.? Any suggestion for next year’s picnic are greatly appreciated.