I was doing some sculpting today & you know how it is: the house is quiet, your hands are busy & your thoughts kinda go where they want from here to there and back again.
I got to thinking about the new Wonderland movie. I know darn well that not one of my "grown-up" friends is going to want to go. Ken won't because eventually it'll be on TV so why sit in a cramped seat in an Imax theatre that you have to drive 1 hr to get to. But I do have a couple of grandkids who I know would give their eye teeth to go! And then I got to thinking about how difficult life is for them at the moment. Their parents are newly split up: dad's got a new girlfriend who's suddenly more important than paying child support. My daughter has a job that doesn't give her a full 40 hour paycheque and then there's the mortgage and... and... and. She tries her best but you can only stretch money so far. Luxuries like movies are just so far down the list.
How do people do it nowadays? With the economy down in the dumps and the cost of everything going up but never down, how do people manage to pay their bills and put food on the table? If there aren't two incomes, it's virtually impossible. And yet in any one classroom how many kids come from single parent households?
I grew up poor but never realized it. My parents were newly immigrated so money was always tight. Most of my friends were like me, altho I did have a couple of friends who were well off. It was never fun going to their houses because altho they had lots of everything including toys we were never allowed to play with anything in case we made a mess that the housekeeper had to clean. We used to feel sorry for them. They weren't allowed to make a mess; weren't allowed to get dirty. We made most of our own fun and it all had to do with imagination and being outside. You were never bored.
When my kids were young, I was on my own & struggling. We lived in the country where they could be outside all day long...from breakfast right thru til supper. If I had kids today, I'd be afraid to let them out like that. It's no wonder that obesity in kids is growing. They're not allowed to "roam free". There must have been predators, and pedophiles when mine were small; you just never heard about them. Besides you were on a first name basis with your local policeman because that's just what he was....local. How do parents cope? It's no wonder that kids live more structured lives now.
I'm one of those lucky people who got to retire early. It's called Freedom55 here in Canada. I hear from so many people about how their supervisor is giving them grief but there's nothing they can do. Or worried about keeping their job; or whether they'll ever be able to retire because there's no pension. How do people manage?
I'm glad we don't live forever. As the world shrinks due to overpopulation and the dog eat dog mentality increses, it's becoming more stressful and less fun. Or maybe I'm just getting old & crotchety!
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You are having a blues festival all of your own today. Take some chromium supplements, it will lift the clouds and chase the blues away.
ReplyDeleteI am always amazed that people seem to think all the worlds problems such as worrying about retirement, single mother's struggles. Children have never been allowed to just run free, it simply felt like that as a child. Our memories of our childhood are not the same memories our parents have of our childhood.
Put things in perspective. Read a good book about life in the medieval times, now that was some gruesome living! One in 5 children never made it past the age of 3. There were no antibiotics. There was little to no sanitation in cities other than offal carts. Pollution in the Victorian age was horrific in cities with all the coal fumes. All the buildings were black, completely covered in soot. The streets were filled with horse manure and they were rarely paved. There was no such thing as a federal retirement plan or health care.
Woops meant to say people act as if all the world's problems started this last decade.
ReplyDeleteSingle parenting is rough especially in recessions. In the recession of the 1980s I was laid off work with no jobs in the area, not enough money to put a roof over our heads and food on the table. I had to send my child 2,500 miles away so he would not have to live in poverty. I had to travel the opposite direction another 2,500 miles to find work and it was close to minimum wage scale. I did not get to be with him for almost 2 years. He grew so much I did not recognize him the next time I saw him. I almost lost him forever in a stupid custody issue. When you think things are bad think of that situation and count your blessings.
Isn't it odd that when everything is quiet how you can get thinking about things. I do that sometimes. You never know where your mind will wander to. Sometimes good and sometimes bad. But sometimes in the quiet you get answers to problems. Sometimes you just have the what if's. Sometimes when everything is quiet around you it is a good time to let the thoughts come and see where they take you. It never hurts to live in the quiet times. If this makes sense I will be surprised. LOL. Teresa
ReplyDeleteTeresa...it makes perfect sense!
ReplyDeleteKarin...I too had it bad. I permanently lost my daughter when whe was 15. What doesn't break us makes us stronger! And no I wasn't depressed just my mind wandering while I was working. Sorry if it felt like the blues talking....