by Docsynic

Created on: May 02, 2009

By the time I was ten I was washing my own clothes in the bathroom sink with a bar of Ivory soap, and hanging them to dry in my room. My mother had given up on her competition with other tenants to use the community washer and dryer. Being ADHD I lacked the foresight to begin my washing early, and it was a lucky day if my clothes were dry by morning. If they were not, I was forced to wear the same clothes I wore the day before, dirty or otherwise.

Mother was a lonely and isolated soul who took in stray cats to fill a void created by lack of family and quality friends. Her mother and father were dead. She had no siblings that she was allowed to acknowledge. In place of this we had in excess 50+ cats that we could barely feed, let alone take to the vet for shots. Some mornings before school I would stop by the dumpster to throw away a dead cat or kitten. This was a tough job for a young girl. And to this day I still refuse to own a pet.

Those days -or nights I should say- it was hard to sleep. Between the fleas bouncing between my sheets, the cockroaches crawling on my arms and in my hair, the mice and rats who hid within the comforts of my box-spring to escape our feline brood, and a growling belly, it is no wonder I had a rough time settling down. And some nights, even in Bakersfield California, it can get pretty cold. Makeshift windows of plexiglass and tape don't make for good insulation, nor does a granny square afghan quilt. It seemed sometimes that our house was made of Swiss cheese, barely adequate enough to keep out the elements. And just enough to house the insanity that was born there.

I got away. And happily I lead a relatively normal life. Though I am not without the residual inadequacies that seem perforate the lives of those who grow up in harsh circumstance, my values are sound. I know now, as well as I knew then, that many others had it worse. And as shaky and weathered as it was, at least I had a roof over my head.

This recession is a scary time for all of us. Some are worried that they may have to give up a vehicle, and others are worried that they won't be able to feed their children. We all may very well be stripped down to the bare necessities of life, should we be lucky enough to have those.

We have been spoiled by lives of convenience, colored with ipods, laptops, gas guzzling sports utility vehicles, and we have over extended ourselves with debt because we like 'stuff'. But what are we doing? What are we living our lives for? Stuff is just stuff. It doesn't care about us, or how it makes us feel. We would all be fine if we did away with most of it. I think I will be okay -even if I have to wash my clothes in the bathroom sink again.

Hopefully this economic downfall will leave us unscathed, but with better insight.

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