Cape Karen
It seems like just yesterday I was writing a Thanksgiving blog - where does the time go? This year will be a year to remember and be thankful for our friends and families, who are scattered all around the country, as we sit down to feast on our little roast and veggies; just the two of us and Smudge kitty. (She can have some gravy.)
Part of me thinks we should be out, serving a meal to the homeless, or doing something more 'giving' on this particular day. After all, we are alone this year, and we have no family obligations. But, Frank wants to rest and just enjoy his day off from work, so rest he will - because the golf course is closed. (Now there's something to be thankful for!) I had my 'thanksgiving' early this year - having had such a great time back home with my friends in September. Now, I can carry those memories with me through the holidays.
One of my special friends back home is Natalie Ryan - she is an amazing woman of incredible faith, who has endured more heartbreak than most of us will ever know. Two of her seven children were killed in accidents at young ages; something no mother should ever have to bear once, never mind twice. But Natalie has - and she has done so with courage, warmth and love. Her husband, Joe, and their five other children, Dave, Chris, Ginny, Ruthie and Meg have all given so much to their community over the years. They are all true witnesses of how such terrible adversities, while never forgotten, can be somehow endured and overcome, with a strong faith and great deal of love.
Now, the Ryan family needs their community of love again. Their son, David, now married to Cheryl and the father of three young sons, had a terrible explosion accident on Monday, November 13th, and he suffers burns over 45% of his body. His left eye was burned, his (dominant) right hand has terrible third degree burns, and his stomach, back, legs and torso, are all badly burned. He is in the intensive care burn unit at Mass General Hospital in Boston.
Dave has already endured more than 8 hours of surgery (skin grafts) during this last week, and he will have to have even more surgery in the weeks and months ahead. They're keeping him heavily sedated and intubated because of the pain - and that's been very difficult for his loved ones. They all want so much to see his eyes again, and to hear his voice. The boys are missing their dad. They're frightened to see him in a hospital, encased in a plastic enclosure with tubes everywhere, and sleeping all the time. But, they also know it's keeping his pain at bay, and that that's a good thing. His suffering will become their suffering.
Last week, in a flash, everything changed in the Ryan family.
This Thanksgiving, look around you, see the people in front of you - really see them - and please. . . don't take them for granted.
Pictured: David, (blue shirt) Cheryl, Matthew, Nolan and Nathan Ryan
I was watching HGTV today and they were showing a townhouse for sale in Minneapolis, MN. A beautiful condo, owned by Josh and Jason. It was a 2 bedroom 1 1/2 bath, modern style home. It had a beautiful finished basement, complete with a full kitchen, fireplace and bar, and the 3-story townhouse had lots of open space and square footage. The gorgeous complex, called "Hidden Lakes," was easily accessible to everything in the city, yet built to feel as if it were located out in the country. Perfect!
$725,000.00 perfect!
After seeing that, I realized that my 3 bedroom, 2 bath mobile home is, for sure, the very last home I will ever own ~ barring a winning lottery ticket. No, it doesn't have a basement, but it does have a big fireplace and a nice kitchen. No, it isn't in downtown Minneapolis and just a short drive to The Mall of America, but it is within a five minute drive to many malls, and close to the most visited National Park in the country. But, most important of all, it's affordable.
Watching such property shows - and there are many now - solidifies for me that no matter how humble it might be, I'm just fortunate to own any kind of home in this day and age. The cost of residential property has gone nuts! I don't know how anyone of moderate means can do it anymore? For example, the house that we had built on Cape Cod in 1964, for $18,400.00, and sold in 1993 for $97,000.00; now has a resale value of around $390,000.00. I say, "Eeeeek!" Especially where the house is 42 years old!
That will be a great profit for the owners, and home ownership is still the best investment around, but what young couple, starting out today, can take on a mortgage of $390,000.00 or more? The average earnings on Cape Cod haven't even begun to keep up with that kind of increase in property value. Every week there are articles, and many letters to the editor, about why so many of the Cape's young people are being forced to move away from what they've always called "home." They can't afford to rent or own on the Cape any longer.
Lots of rich retirees are moving in from other states, and more and more locals are being forced to move away. That's so sad to me ~ especially because I am one of them! I can understand why they're moving - because taking on that kind of debt, even to own an old, 3 bedroom, 1 bath ranch, ten minutes from the ocean, is just patently ridiculous. Oh, for sure, it will sell ~ but probably to a retiring couple from New York City. The older, oceanfront properties on the Cape are now selling anywhere from $2 to $4 million, and new construction, anywhere near the ocean, (oceanfront property is loooong gone) well, unless you're "The Donald," just forget it.
So, going back to the 2 bedroom townhouse in beautiful, downtown Minneapolis, MN - if you can come up with a downpayment of about $200,000.00, handle a big mortgage, plus a $395.00 monthly condo fee, and you don't mind close neighbors, cold winters and hot summers ~ it's all yours!
Just think, in a few more days we won't have to watch and listen to anymore nasty 'slams' attacking one politician or another, or put up with the gazillions of obnoxious TV ads they're running this year. These stupid, senseless ads have cost more than most of us will ever earn in our entire lifetime. Two billion dollars, all spent for an onslaught of negative crap. Just think of all the good things that kind of money could have been used for instead. Yep -it's times like these when I'm glad I have cable - whenever I want, I can switch off the political stuff and watch Discovery, The Travel Channel, National Geographic or The History Channel, and just pretend it isn't even happening. Or, I just curl up with a good book!
But, it is happening, and we do have to stay somewhat aware or they could really do us in! Did you know that in 1968 we had 63 lobbyists in Washington? Do you know how many are up there today? There are over 34,000 - that's right, there are now over thirty-four-thousand "special interest" lobbyists crawling all over Capitol Hill like fire ants; offering to pay and 'pay-off' far too many, all-too-willing, corrupt and/or lazy legislators. And, you got it ~ we're the ones who keep getting stung by these disgusting vermin.
I don't know if you've been listening to CNN commentator and author, Lou Dobbs, lately, but I have - and I happen to like what he has to say. He 'tells it like it is' without being offensive, and he makes his point without resorting to a screaming match with his opponents. He says what most of us are thinking, but have no platform on which to stand to express ourselves. I also think his new book, "The War on the Middle Class" will quickly become a best seller. . . after all, it's about the war being waged against the vast majority of us by our own government!
Here's a couple of quotes I liked from Mr. Dobb's blog, posted on the CNN website today:
"So, what if a majority of us decided once and for all to walk into our town and city halls all over the country and change our party affiliation from Republican or Democrat to Independent? And what if that sizable number of us, who don't vote at all, decided to go and register as Independents? For the first time in decades, working middle-class Americans might just get the attention of our elected officials in Washington."
And here ~ I think he must have read my last blog entry:
"Our middle class has suffered in silence for far too long, and it cannot afford to suffer, or be silent, much longer. Hardworking Americans have not spoken out about their increasingly marginalized role in this society, and as a consequence they've all but lost their voice. Without that strong, clear and vibrant voice, all the major decisions about America and our future will be made by the elites of government, big business and the dominant special interests. Those elites treasure your silence, as it enables them to claim America's future for their own."
They "treasure our silence..." Whew! And, I agree - good idea, Lou - let's all register as Independents, en masse! And, let's get the e-mail addresses and phone numbers of our state Representatives and of our do-nothing Congressmen (who only work about 80 days a year, and give themselves a hefty pay raise annually) into our online address books; then we can start e-mailing and phoning them, like crazy, about our "special interests."
Hey! Maybe we could even make the news? Let's set a date and do it!
AP Wire: Washington, D.C. November 22, 2006
"Phone lines shut down, and all government computer systems crashed in the Capitol today. This was not due, as suspected, to an attack from you-know-who. It was discovered, after much investigation, that this massive interruption of services was caused by a very strange and uncommon event. It seems that, at precisely 10:00 o'clock ET this morning, over 200 million Americans were all trying to reach their elected representatives by phone or e-mail. Officials are now considering upgrading all government communication systems to prevent such an occurence from happening again in the future.
However, a spokesman from the Oval Office has quoted President Bush as saying:
"It is highly unlikely that this foolish event will ever happen again. I know, for sure, that this was just a minor hiccup, aimed at our good-old-boy system. Those powerless, middle-class people will go away and leave us alone. Trust me, we can continue to do whatever we want with their money, and with their puny little lives. Read-my-lips: WE have the power, and WE will stay the course!"
A Revolt of the People?
If not now ~ when? If not us ~ who?