More About this (yesterday) Morning

Ok so where was I? Oh yeah, I was about to mention that as a perfectly able-bodied young adult couple, my ex-wife and I could have possibly made ends meet on our meager wages. Neither one of us had a marketable degree. I didn’t have one and she didn’t have a marketable one (biblical studies). However, it was my contention that ANY degree is good for getting a job paying more than mine was at the time.

With both of us working, there is no reason we could not have continued to build on my little nest egg. Then, tragedy struck. This is hard to talk about in the context of this blog because of the serious nature of it all. But just as we were getting on our feet as a new couple, my ex-wife was struck with a debilitating and profoundly severe case of laziness. She sincerely believed that the man should work and the woman should stay at home. Not that she was completely old fashioned though. She did not believe that a woman should solely be responsible for cooking and cleaning. She felt that the man should help out. Oh yeah - and by help out - she meant do all of it.

I felt that if she had this 50's sort of "Honey, I'm home!" attitude, she should get her June Cleaver ass in the kitchen and cook me up some damn meatloaf or something.

But I seem to have digressed ...

Back to 1992:

We had been “borrowing” a car from a friend of Wisa’s mother. His name was Wussell. It was a 1986 blood red Ford Tempo. Much more than we could afford. We borrowed it for about 3 years. Then one time, the headlight broke or something and I took it to my mechanic, let’s call him “Wandy”, who worked out of his home. He was the nicest guy ever (as far as mechanics I barely knew go). Very helpful and friendly. I had been having him fix my cars for years and had always been incredibly happy with the work and the price. It was a very casual arrangement.
“Hey Wandy, my car’s making a noise”
“bring ‘er down!”
“Thanks, man”

So yeah I took Wussell’s car to Wandy. Now here's the best part and it is absolutely true. I felt no need to include Wussell in any of this. I was just going to take the car to Wandy and pay to have him fix it. Wisa felt that Wussell should pay for it since it was his car.

A huge fight ensued which ended with me calling Wussell to tell him that I was getting his car fixed so he should pay for it. I was extremely embarrassed. I was also a big huge pussy. I still am, but I like to think it's by choice.

Well, Wussell paid for it alright. He also required a written estimate of the work done from my mechanic friend. He also took his car back after it got fixed. My mechanic didn't really care to deal with me anymore because of the whole thing. I never talked to Wussell again. I lost many friends during that time in my life. I got most of them back later. Did I mention I was in agony, by the way?

So yeah - now the car search was on. The car I ended up getting was the focal point of what I was reminded of yesterday morning. But really, I have to get up early tomorrow, so ...

This Morning Reminded Me of a Cold Winter Day in 1992 (part one)

Since Weezy and I are moving in a couple (3) weeks, there's a lot of stuff to be done at the current house. We have to get it ready to sell. One thing that needed to be done had to do with the bathtub. It was kind of stained and old looking. There was a little spot of rust or something in one corner. So instead of replacing it, we went with something called electro-something or other. It's some sort of super-duper coating that makes it look shiny and new for pennies less than replacing the tub.
One drawback, though. Nobody can use the tub for 5 days. Not a big deal. It works pretty good with my shower schedule.

So I was like "Hmm ... Where can I take a shower?" Then I was all "I know! I can just go to 24 hour fitness and shower." I've been meaning to get back into shape and this is as good an excuse as any to get started. So saturday morning I "worked out". Loved it. Endorphins, runner's high, all kinds of shit I don't usually get when I exercise. Or maybe I never noticed because I used to exercise intensely pretty much every day.

Well anyways, I was hooked. I didn't go Sunday because I had to golf (90 on a par 68). Actually, I was thinking about how I might squeeze a workout in. This is like it was years ago when I was truly addicted to it.

I figure if I get up at 5 each day, I can get a good workout in and be at work before 8. Yesterday was great. I felt great all day. relaxed. cool. When I quit several months ago, it was pulling teeth to workout. I guess I needed a break. But that's not what reminded me of 1992.

In 1992, I had been married for almost 3 years. About 2.9999 years of that - absolute, unrelenting misery. Horrible. I'll talk about it someday, when I can laugh about it (like tomorrow or something).

Jolene (my daughter) was 2 years old. I was poor for the first time since 1986. I had slowly amassed a small nest egg from 86 to about 90. I had a policy of living debt free. I was saving to pay my way through college. I wanted to go to U.N.O. and Major in Computer Science. Everything was going pretty well. I worked part-time at Idelman Telemarketing. I had a nice little apartment. I had lots of Christian friends and we'd hang out at Village Inn drinking coffee, studying the bible, laughing at sinners and generally being assholes. I had heard about this very serious, devout, woman of Christ named Wisa Wike (Fake Name, to be discreet - or is it discrete?) She was sort of a self contained separate being, I guess. We'll I had heard about her many times as being no-nonsense. Several of my brothers in Jesus were pretty much in love with her. I had never met her, but I kind of liked her, too - from the way people talked about her.

Turns out, she had way more faith than I ever will. For instance, she believed that the bills would somehow miraculously get paid. Or that if someone offered us credit, it was God's way of saying we needed to consume more than we produced.

So by 1992, I was in more debt than ever before. A trend that would continue until I got away and dug my way out.

I have to stop there because I'm tired from all that working out and I have to get up at 5 tomorrow ...