“Today he lives rent-free, with his elderly widowed mother. “
When I was a young, I would have died rather than move back in with my parents. As a result of this fear, the first new car I owned was in 2010, bought when I was 56. For my entire life I bought or was gifted the families’ twenty-year-old cars that were not wanted by the dealerships. I kept them going with every weekend maintenance. I always lived well below my means. Then, during the 2008 real estate madness, I sold my house for enough extra to pay cash for a dilapidated doublewide on acreage in the woods. For the first time I was truly happy with where I was and debt free.
Everyone I knew considered it a huge step down. I considered it a huge step up. And the neighbor lady would bring over possum or coyote chili that tasted of whatever brand cigarette was currently cheapest at the local Jiffy Mart. Paradise. Oh, did I mention it was on Lake Talquin?
The trick to the chili was to never ask what it was made from.
Sounds wonderful! Well, except maybe the coyote chili.
I am about at that point to go live in the woods.