Thankful

Tonight on the news there was a story about a family that thought they had achieved the American dream. They bought a house in a nice neighborhood and got their sons into a nice school and life was good. Except for the fact that now their ability to keep their house hangs in the balance. It's not because the husband lost his job or because the wife got cancer. The reason that foreclosure looms large is because this couple bought their house with no money down, and the only way they could qualify for a mortgage was by obtaining an adjustable rate mortgage. Well, by golly, the rate has been adjusting and adjusting, and the mortgage payment that used to be about $1100 a month now costs them $2015. They were very sad on tv, the wife crying, and the boys confessing that mom had to borrow money from them sometimes to pay the bills. In the end, after some phone calls from the network airing the report, the mortgage company offered to refinance the note for 7.something% fixed interest, and the family was saved. They got to keep their house, the boys got to stay in their school, and mom cried again, this time happy tears.

The point of this story was to demonstrate how real people are getting hurt by slow growth and fear of a recession. Somehow, I must have missed the point, because what I saw was a family who wanted a nice house in the suburbs, didn't have a down payment (who knows why not...maybe a job loss, or cancer...), didn't want to wait any longer for their dream, and bought a house that came with an ARM, hoping against hope that the rates would always stay as low as the day they bought it. And they didn't.

I think this is more than a sad story of a family who thought they could have it all. I think it is a commentary of what we have come to expect as our inalienable right, along with life and liberty - the right to spend money we don't have and get bailed out in the end, either by the government, or by the network that aired our story.

Which brings me to the reason for title of this post..."thankful". I am indeed thankful for my husband and the discipline he has shown through the years, never borrowing money for anything but houses and cars (except for those 12-months-same-as-cash, and only when we have the whole amount sitting in savings). We have lived well on less because of his diligent commitment to saving and spending less than what we make. Because of his careful planning and adherence to the plan, we have everything we need, and more. Thank you, honey, for taking such good care of us. Thank you that I never have to worry about bill collectors, or foreclosure, or about crying on tv.