Scaling Way Back

I met this little guy up on Grand Mesa a few years back.

Look at his cheeks. They're stuffed with the seeds Randy and I carried up the mesa. We did this the year I was selling peaches in Colorado for Russell, my PeachBoss. Randy and the band came into the state for a private show at a rich person's house.

Apparently, the guy who hired the band used to come and see the band back in the 20 North hey-day. I'd never been part of the 20 North scene. I was busy raising children in St. Louis suburbia, working 35 hours a week, and going to school full-time.

If I could do it all differently--of course--I would. Instead of suburbia, I would have loaded the family in the minivan and headed out for the open road, homeschooling as we go and having the hubby pick up odd jobs so we could live a nomad life while looking for that little piece of land in small town. But that's the fun of getting older. As you grow in wisdom, your life comes more into perspective. The important stuff rises with stark clarity as the sand erodes away.

But now we're two steps down the memory hole, and the point of this story is getting lost. Let's start again...

So we're up on Grand Mesa, and Randy brought some nuts to feed the chipmunks because he and his son had come up here a few days before and saw the chipmunks. It was so much fun, and now he wanted me to see the chipmunks, too. Randy loves little animals. At the time, his Chihuahua Chip was the center of his life...after the kids and the band, of course.

So we're up there feeding the chipmunks, laughing about their daring as they scaled the rocks, clinging to them in their pursuit of food.

The chipmunks know what's coming to Grand Mesa all too soon. At 11,000 feet, the cold, ice, and snow of the Western Slope hits hard.

Why am I thinking of this little guy now?

I've been thinking about the state of the nation and needed a metaphor for my life.

I've been thinking hard about the upcoming election and the state of the economy, the world, our Republic. The economy is pinching me hard right now, and I'm working a full-time job and a part-time one. I'm barely making it. I just got paid yesterday, and I'm down to about $17 and some odd change to my name until next payday. This is the state of our economy and the republic. As a semi-homeless single hard-working woman, I don't understand why I'm not doing better.

I need to be more like the chipmunk.

So, I started thinking of my "extravagences" this morning to figure out where to cut back further, and I'm not sure what I should cut out next:

--Starbucks

--One-tank drives

--Seltzer Water

--Going out to hear music

I know the first two seem like the real "luxuries," but I'm thinking about cutting out the third one, the seltzer water. I love my seltzer, but I have so much tea right now--herbal, black, green, matcha--so I can drink tea for a healthful space of time. The medicinal properties in tea are significant. I can cut out the Seltzer Water.

I can also cut out the last one: going out to hear music. Every time I go, I end up spending something or tipping someone. Rather than go TO music for these next two weeks, I'm going to work on the ukulele or the bass uke that I wanted to learn over summer. (Summer's not over yet!)

For a hot minute, I thought hard about giving up the Starbucks, but that's where I get my work done. It's where I'm working now...writing this. The energy of the music, clean tea, and chatter of Saturday-morning conversations give song to the steady rhythm of my typing into the computer these digital words.

But...on further consideration, I need to scale back here, too. No more fancy dragon fruit drink. From now on, I'm going to stick to only tea and utilize the free refill for rewards members if I'm working at one of the tables for a long time. I'll limit myself on the days I can get Starbucks: only on the weekends when I'll need to sit at the tables and work.

One-tank drives? That might have to be the next thing to go. Sometimes, I space that one-day over two weeks with little 20-minute drives...taking the long way home. Or taking the London Bridge Road up to Walmart for some nonsensical reason like getting Q-Tips or a gel pen, things that are needed but not urgently. These drives are the zen space where I can clear my head from the fluff of the workday. These one-tank drives will be hard to give up. But I must be very careful with my gas spends and try to make my currently-full tank last for two weeks.

Why am I making all this public? Because I want to hold myself accountable. I've got to put on my big-girl skirt and figure out how to survive a life during Bidenomics.

We've got to turn this all around. This current state of the economy is unsustainable. I was just talking with a Havasu homeowner who said she hopes the housing market crashes. She said her children are all working, but none of them are able to afford their own homes. Same with my children. Same with me. Homeownership is a significant thing that gives a person some level of independence. Otherwise, we are all serfs of some corporate lord. But, a piece of land allows a person to plant a garden, raise some chickens, sustain the self and the family.

Those are my thoughts this morning.