This and That

Today is one of my days off. I always spend those days running errands in the morning and trying to get things done that I cannot during my four long work days. This third day off each week is like a gift. One day I hope to actually sleep in but that hasn't happened yet...this is only my third Tuesday off thus far.

I am preparing for a wedding I will be attending late June. This is the child of my childhood best friend who graduated from college last weekend. Actually, she received her master's last weekend in Washington, D.C.. The wedding will be a large affair in Philadelphia. I had to book a room, find a dress and am still working on preparations for my dog's care in my absence. I feel old that I could have a friend with a child this old. That friend is my age and her child is younger than mine.

I have been very concerned about one of my neighbors. She went through a divorce about seven years ago when her husband told her he wanted her to leave the home on his family's property. He gave her a nice settlement but her earning capacity was a fraction of his. She bought a small home and her salary would have been enough had she lived modestly. After nearly twenty years of living on his and her salary she didn't change her lifestyle. Now she has refinanced her home several times and will probably lose it. Her friends begged her to stop living so far above her means but I realized this was some type of emotional issue she had. She has been extremely generous to all who know her. She lent so much money to people she called friends who have no intention of paying her back. How sad. I have tried to caution her that in life we want to call so many acquaintances friends when they have not earned that priviledge. I have offered to help her try to regroup her finances but she doesn't want that. She wants some benefactor to bail her out. That will not happen. This past weekend with this present situation she chose to once again go to Atlantic City. That really made me sad but I had to accept that it is her life and she is in control. No one but she can turn it around and I doubt that she will. I don't know what will happen to her. While I want to help people I have made the choice that I must help those who are helping themselves. I don't have the emotional or financial means to throw around casually. What I find the saddest is that she takes no responsibility for this. It's her ex's fault and the friends who didn't pay her back. I think that if you haven't matured by forty it's probably not going to happen anytime soon. Sometimes people are their own worst enemies and there is just nothing you can do to help them.