Not
long ago, an article that caught my attention, concerned
the difficulty of maintaining a sophisticated decor when
small children appear on the scene. Several young, obviously
affluent couples who had become parents rather late in life,
were featured. They all bemoaned the fact that their homes
and apartments which had been furnished with expensive name-designer
furniture and accessories were now in jeopardy with the
arrival of their first children. Apparently these young
executive couples whose company value, would, I assume,
include their ability to plan for unforeseen contingencies,
had never given any thought to how a play pen or jump seat
might prove a jarring contrast to their sleek, modern décor.
Nor had any consideration been given to the incompatibility
of fragile, murano glass lamps with the inborn accident-prone
gene of all small children. One couple had, much to their
decorative distaste, solved the problem of a sharp-edged
Noguchi glass coffee table by wrapping the edges in some
sort of plastic foam creating a centerpiece that looked
as if it had fallen from outer space.
Although Val and I did not
marry at a very young age (he was 34 and I was 27), we never
encountered problems of this sort. Whatever furniture we
had was strictly second-had or improvised. I recall that
Val made a wonderful "change" table out of two
unfinished dressers, pushed together and topped by solid
wood door which he padded and then covered with a washable
plastic. It was sturdy and an ideal height for changing,
washing and dressing, two active little boys. When the kids
had a cold, we ran the shower in the bath room full tilt,
steaming up the entire apartment and de-wrinkling Val's
one good suit at the same time it cleared the boy's stuffy
noses. Our walk-up apartment in Chicago had only two things
of much value ... a Zenith television ensconced in a French
provincial cabinet (a wedding gift) and an elegant British
pram. Val, using a convoluted logic understood only by other
engineers, put a removable cardboard cover over the TV screen
so it could be run 24/7, testing it fully before the warranty
expired. We sold the TV when we left Chicago but the pram
proved a good investment, looking as elegant after servicing
three children, as it had the day we purchased it.
When we bought our first,
little house in Chicago, there was almost nothing left in
the checking account after closing but the children could
run and play without fear of hurting anything and I was
too enamored with my turquoise appliances to mind the lack
of furniture. In any event, only one year after purchasing,
we sold the house to accept a job offer which would take
us to Japan. And Japan, as you may know, is a country where
living with minimal possessions, has been transformed into
an art.
While I certainly sympathize
with young couples struggling to pay their bills in today's
difficult economy and also relate to seniors like myself,
making ends meet on a fixed income, I wonder if these times
may mark a return to some values we have overlooked in the
recent past. "A penny saved is a penny earned"
and "It's smart to be thrifty". We need to replace
the "gotta have, I deserve it and want it now"
mentality with the "Do I really need it and can I afford
it?" yardstick for purchases. Too much credit card
debt, homes bought with nothing down and adjustable rates
and home equity loans which use the house like an extra
checking account, are not good for us as individuals and
as we are now, belatedly aware, not good for our country,
either.
Jean Cherni
is founder of Senior Living Solutions, a retirement advisory
service. Contact her at jeancherni@sbcglobal.net or
15 The Ponds, Branford 06405.
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