I walk into the gymnasium of the preschool where I teach. It is packed to the brim with people of all races, colors, ages, creeds. Everyone is picnicking happily, eating their lunches from paper plates, drinking lemonade and iced tea. There is an air of contentment and relaxed anticipation. I sit down with my plate next to a coworker and we chat while we eat. We are sitting on the aisle near the front of the gym next to a long, empty table.
In the center of the room, a young man sits among his family, his preacher next to him. He eats slowly, keeping his eyes to his plate. After a few minutes, the preacher, a large man wearing a purple mock turtleneck, stands up and takes the young man to the front of the gym. The preacher starts to speak, and I don't really pay attention. But I hear him say that it is time to begin. The room goes quiet, and the lights go off leaving us in total darkness. There is absolutely no noise and within a few seconds the lights come back up.
The young man is in a coffin standing against a wall with a small bleeding hole in his head, like he had been shot. The people that fill the gymnasium quietly file forward to pay their final respects and the preacher talks about how he felt no pain. He sets a basket on the empty table near me and says that if anyone would like to leave notes for him to take with him to the afterlife, the basket is waiting. But don't bother to leave money, because it will be stolen.
These are the things that happen to me during sleep after I watch documentaries.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Lessons in Credit
When I was 19 (that's 1998, for those keeping track) I did what I thought was the responsible thing to do: I got a credit card. $500 limit, good interest rate, every intention of using it for emergencies only.
The problem was, like most 19 year olds, I had a very loose definition of what an "emergency" was. Like, new Tori Amos cds were NECESSARY as were new Doc Martens and Sonic cheddar bites on a Friday night.
My credit card. We had some good times. And Bank of America was kind enough to automatically increase my credit limit anytime I got close to maxing it out. Before I knew it, I could charge up to $8000!! That's pretty cool for a kid, and I thought it meant that I was doing something right, because obviously they knew that I would be able to pay that much off in a short amount of time!
Things I charged on my credit card over the years:
My first wedding (yep, pretty much the whole thing)
A remote control tank
SO MANY GROCERIES
Gas when moving back from Portland
Part of my second wedding
Dinners out
Mud tires and a catalytic converter for a Jeep we sold 2 months later
All the random little things that were needed in my life that my $7 an hour job did not afford
Needless to say, I have learned a lot about credit over the years. #1 being I am not cut out to have credit card. I still have a loose definition of the word emergency. And I really like stuff. If shopping addiction can be genetically passed on, my father was kind enough to put that shit right in my DNA.
Today, I can say that my first wedding is officially paid off. Like most people in a lot of debt, it is a day that I never thought would get here. And by Christ, it feels good. Not to belabor the point, but my FIRST wedding is paid off. I have been divorced for TEN YEARS. The only memento I had from that wedding was the debt.
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