Month 13

Dear Jack,

I was originally going to talk about your new obsession with playing 64 pick-up with the crayon box - not my favorite game- how you love to nest in your father's golf ball collection, and even how you have grown so attached to the lady at daycare that it makes my heart ache. Instead I have decided to talk about something happening right now that you will possibly read about in school when you are older- but like so many things I learned about in history classes, not truly appreciate the true intensity and fearfulness surrounding the situation.

Our country has been lending money to people to buy houses, cars, businesses, and to take out credit cards with large amounts of spending room. This is of course fine, however, a lot of people in this world are motivated by one thing: to impress their neighbors, friends, family, and even strangers with all of the extravagences they own. The problem is, these neighbors, friends, family, and strangers do not pay the balances that these people have open. There is a cliche that my grandmother said to me and I am sure I will say to you "eat with your stomach and not with your eyes"- just because that cupcake looks good, doesn't mean it should go on your plate. Over the last decade or so, people have been seeing everything they want but not thinking about what they can actually handle. Over time, these people realize that they can not afford the extravagences they wanted and eventually default on all of those open balances. The problem is, that the banks have already paid out this money to the car companies, stores, brokers, etc and now this money is an open debt. Those open debts have accumulated over time and have slowly brought the country we live in into a dire economic situation. People who have invested money over the last 30 years into their retirement accounts now do not have enought to retire on. Banks are closing, companies are closing, people are losing their jobs, and the price of food and gas has gone up tremendously. It is a scary time, and there is a definite uncertainty to our very near future. A lot of people are scared, myself included, that things will get too out of control and the economy will go into a recession.
You are probably wondering why I am telling you this, why this even matters to you right now. All you care about is where your next oreo is coming from. But, the thing is that sometimes there will not be oreos. Sometimes there might only be crackers, and you'll kick and scream and you'll tell us how much you want an oreo right this second and how horrible we are as parents for not giving you that oreo. And it will not be that we do not want to give you an oreo and that we are going out of our way to be cruel parents because we get out kicks out of watching you scream and writhe on the floor. One day there may be oreos every week, but until your father and I can get to that point financially- sometimes there will not be enough money for oreos because we will need milk instead or because you need to go to the doctor. You have to make sacrifices to survive.

I used to think money grew on trees- that it was so easily attainable and so was anything else I wanted. Unfortunately, it isn't and even if you are able to get all of those out of your league things that you want-you'll only have it temporarily- and things will eventually catch up with you and you will find yourself in a horrible predicament. And, no matter how much money we do make, there is still a good chance you'll find yourself still writhing on the floor screaming because we wouldnt buy you a new toy that you absolutely needed because everyone else has it and you dont.
If you learn anything growing up, I hope you learn to have an appreciation for what you do have and not obsess over what you do not have. There is not a rush to buy a house, a brand new car, to have a closet full of name brand clothing, or to have the most high tech gadgets available. Let things happen when they are supposed to and never put yourself in a situation that makes things financially tight if they do not have to be. Pay your rent and your other bills before you go out to dinner with your friends or before you buy that new television that your friend has. Always have something saved just in case, and do not live off or depend on credit cards.
Don't let your eyes get away with what your gut doesn't feel it is ready to handle.

Love,
Mommy