"What piece of junk are you keeping? Open the 'junk' drawer in your life...it's probably in your kitchen, your garage or your desk. Take one item out of it that's been there for a long time. Write a piece that explains why you haven't thrown the item away yet."
Where to start? I am not keeping one piece of junk, I am keeping thousands, millions. I am drowning in junk. But, I'll choose one.
I am saving a coupon book I bought last June when I first moved to Bellingham. I love the idea behind this "Buy Local" campaign and wish I was part of the crowd of people who live by its guidelines, and often times, I do. If I'm going to go out for a treat for myself, I go to La Vie En Rose, a French bakery downtown. This year when my kids were sick and I got to stay home from school with them, we took a special field trip there and bought any kind of treats we wanted. Paige bought a piece of pizza with mozzarella, basil and homemade sourdough crust. Cade had an apple juice and a piece of the same pizza. But, me I love the chocolate croissants, almond croissants, lemon ginger scones, and their bread, any of their bread. I also love the Mt. Bakery. Norman and I went there for breakfast one day and he got something he didn't like and so now he says he hates the place, but I think he wouldn't if he tried again. They have the best baked stuff in the world. Their macaroons and lemon curds are so good I want to hop in the car and go there right now but they are probably closed or out of all the stuff I love because they actually do make the stuff right there.
But, now, here I am, poor. Or at least I feel poor. The days of large amounts of disposable income are gone. Here are the days of buying most things on the credit card because we can't afford the things we need. It makes me wonder why I went into teaching. I am a very organized and driven person. I am a fast learner and I work really hard. Why didn't I go into a more lucrative field? I guess I could say "because I love teaching" and yes, sometimes I do. But, often, the obstacles seem much more obvious and plentiful than the rewards. And the money is a ridiculous joke. But it is not as big a joke as the pay at regular jobs you get if you don't have a college education. I have first hand contact with what they mean when they say "the working poor." So, few are the days when we can go to a fancy shmancy local place and buy an item, even with the coupon book. We buy food. That's all we buy. Every once in a while we splurge on a racquetball thing for Norman or a book for me. But, that's it. So, we are not supporting Wal-Mart or anything, but we aren't supporting the locals much either. We are trying our best not to get sucked into the idea that we have to buy to exist, but that message is not everywhere here. It is everything. I don't pass a single place or single thing down here without thinking I want to buy it or something similar. Why? Where did that come from? I wish I knew. I wish that feeling was in my junk drawer and I could throw that out!
Good for people to know.
Posted by: Violet | October 29, 2008 at 01:57 AM