Warning: The following contains material that may be unsuitable for your reading pleasure (unless you don’t mind some “whine” with your column this week).
Katie, the college sophomore, called home the other day to announce that her roommate’s boyfriend had been sent home packing to Florida because he is sick with swine flu. Just great! Now I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. How is her roommate feeling? More to the point, how is she feeling? Yikes! She’s coming home today for the first time this semester and hopefully not packing flu germs along with her weekend bag.
After a nice, mother-daughter bonding lunch, we’re heading straight to the doctor’s office so she can get her flu shot. It’s too bad it’s only the seasonal variety. Seems the swine flu shot is not yet available in these parts, but with the swine flu now hitting so close to home (turns out the roommate’s boyfriend is not the only one in Katie’s circle of friends at school who has it) I can’t wait until everyone in my family can get inoculated as soon as possible. Yes, there’s the illness itself to worry about, but for me, it’s also about the idea of lost time, missed classes, and all that tuition money going down the drain.
Speaking of tuition money, I just sent in a couple of checks for next semester, and yikes, once again, we are living perilously close to the edge. I remember living paycheck to paycheck in my 20s, and for a glorious, all-too-brief period of time, breaking away from that depressing financial pattern.
And yet here we are, decades later, living with that same uncomfortable feeling. Isn’t there supposed to be some point in life where you are free from all that? It’s a little bit like growing out of teenage acne, moving into the wrinkle-prone years and then, heavens to Betsy, one day there’s a darned zit springing up on your face out of nowhere! It’s one thing to relive your youth. It’s another thing entirely when it comes back to haunt you, whether you’re talking about your skin or your bank account.
Swine flu, dwindling accounts, rising unemployment, falling consumer confidence, the wacky stock market, the rock-bottom housing market, out-of-control taxes, the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the crazy president in Iran, the crazier president in North Korea, potential terrorist plots on the subway, men-behaving-badly-still-again (David Letterman, Eliot Spitzer, and South Carolina governor Mark Sanford lead the current hit parade and so does Bernard Madoff, for a different reason) people-behaving-rudely (Congressman Joe “You Lie!” Wilson, Kanye “Steal the Mike and the Moment From a Kid” West, and Serena “I’m Gonna Shove This F’in Ball Down Your “F’in Throat Williams), floods in Georgia, tsunami in American Samoa, earthquake in Indonesia, typhoons in Taiwan, global warming everywhere. ACCCCCCCKKKKKKKK!
Oh, and did I mention that Will is in a walking cast (football injury near the growth plate!) and then, this week, he burned his hand too? (Don’t ask how, you don’t want to know.)
From the personal setbacks to the global issues, is it a wonder that we are living in an age of anxiety? That so many of us these days live with a constant roil of emotions, wondering if this is life in the new millennium in general — just deal with it — or if we are living at a crossroads in history that we’ll look back on someday and be grateful that we survived? They say when it rains it pours, and I have to say, I will be happy when 2009 is over and we can start with a clean slate in 2010.
A personal anecdote: when the government came out with the Cash-for-Clunkers program, I immediately thought of my parents, who have two cars, one an Oldsmobile that I seem to remember driving as a teenager. Surprisingly, my father refused to have anything to do with that government deal.
The first reason is that my parents believe that if it’s fixable, it’s drivable. The second reason surprised me. My dad, with his old-school pride, declared, “I don’t want any part of a government handout.” The Oldsmobile passed its most recent state inspection, and so will remain in our family for the foreseeable future. With any luck, one day it will be considered an antique and worth something, though I’m not holding my breath.
My father also refused to take advantage of any of the car deals being offered right now. Between rebates, zero percent financing, and trade-ins, they’re practically giving cars away and I suggested it might be a great time to buy. Once again, he adamantly refused, and once again, the reason surprised me. Keep in mind that my father is a PhD from MIT, a scientist with many patents who did research with the kind of fibers that are used domestically for things like tires, and by the military for things like bulletproof vests and battle gear.
And yet this scientist has a superstitious side, strong enough that he told me that 2009, one of his ninth year cycles (he is 79 this year) is one of his unlucky ones, and if he was going to take any kind of significant life action, including making a major purchase, he would wait for the 10th year, 2010.
Maybe that’s it. Maybe there’s something in the horoscope or Asian zodiac that portended all the dismal events of this year and we just didn’t know it. I would like to have something to blame. That would be as good a scapegoat as any. I would like to think that 2010 will be better for everyone. So, my friends: hang in there. You’re not alone if you are feeling anxious, stressed out, or pressured. It seems to be a sign of the times. You’re in good company.
Don’t forget: Euna’s book, Suburban Mom, Tales from the Minivan of Life, is now available online at www.barnesandnoble.com. Or you can order from her directly by E-mailing eunakwon@aol.com
