A visitor to my yard sale the other day gave me just the message that I needed to hear at the time. I was dithering. Anticipating the money that I would receive from the sale of my house, and wondering if I ought to buy the car that I had identified as the one that would be wonderful to drive going forward, since a lot of driving would be in my immediate future. And it would provide for even more possible travel to farther flung places, should I choose to do that. And how do I know how long this particular phase of my life will be possible? I am getting seriously old you know. So I ought to make the most of this time, don’t you think? But I also like knowing I have money available, possibly more than I like spending it. Never once in my life have I ever had to wonder where my next meal was coming from, and yet the fear of finding myself homeless is very real to me. And it goes way back, long before now when homelessness has become so obvious to us all. I don’t mean to make light of what. must be a cruel reality for a lot of people, I’m just admitting to a (hopefully) irrational fear.
So what was the message that was so timely? He told me that he was selling his house also. He had remarried, he was an 80-something newlywed. He was married to his first wife for 55 years, he said. When they got married he told her that since she liked doing bookwork, etc, then he thought she should handle all the bills. And so she had, for all those 55 years. He told me where she had worked all those years, and he described a nice enough life. But after she died he discovered something shocking. He had to take over the bills of course, and that’s when he discovered that they had $300,000 in the bank! Totally unbeknownst to him. And he cried bitterly, he said, because she had worked so hard for all those years and never enjoyed that money. So sad really, but maybe watching her nest egg grow did bring her enough satisfaction and security to be worth it.
I really didn’t expect that ending to the story, and it taught me something. But if I was going to net anything remotely close to that $300,000 then I wouldn’t be worried about what car to buy now would I? And, just to be clear, that’s not my family in the photo. I used this stock photo because the panoramic moonroof is a plus for possibilities of camping, and since Ozzie wouldn’t need the electronics I wouldn’t buy those either. Always thinking…
A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens 