Blessing and a Curse

Unless someone is playing a cruel joke on me, and I don’t think anyone is, I’ve been blessed with the means to leave the country should I wish to do so.

I must admit that upon receiving notification a few days ago of a source of income I didn’t realize I’d left behind when I quit a job after 20 years, my first thought was “Canada, here I come”, but then there’s the matter of Canada being too cold and then I figured that, at my age, leaving the country for Canada, England, Australia or any of the other places I’d thought about would not be wise. I hope to remain healthy, able to care for myself but one never knows, so the wise thing is to be near family rather than in a strange country, at the mercy of strangers.

I actually don’t think I can count on family members in an emergency either. Still, I feel safer knowing people I’m related to are within reach.

At any rate, the news came as a blessed surprise.

On the other hand, where I’m living now is restricted income.

I’m already over the limit, but wasn’t kicked out when “restricted” came into play because I was already here – considered “grandfathered in”.

However, there is a limit as to how much over the restricted income one can be, and this additional source of income is so significant that I’ll likely not be able to continue living here when this year’s lease expires.

Now that Nurse Ratched is in my rear view, I don’t want to move. Even though the lease won’t come into question until November, I’ve been giving myself a headache and sleepless nights worrying in advance about what to do should I have to relocate away from my locktician, doctor, dentist, walking groups, everything I’m comfortable with.

The Notorious B.I.G. was on point when he rapped about Mo Money Mo Problems.

This additional income puts me in the position of being able to relocate to one of the so-called luxury buildings popping up in neighboring communities, but I’m not a luxury type person. I’ve been a good steward of what's been given to work with -- sort of champagne living on a beer budget but, now that I have a champagne budget, practical beer living is my lane, so I’m thinking along the lines of it being wiser to purchase a little condo, rather than throw money away in rent twice what I'm paying here.

Every time I go to the university, I've looked with envy at the condos going up across the street, but there’s a boom going on in the Inland Empire and surrounding areas. Cost of ownership has more than doubled last few years, pricing me out of near and away.

As far as I can tell right now, the closest I can afford is Las Vegas, Nevada.

I’ve not been to Vegas in 35 years, but I do recall it being a place where there’s lots of energy, so maybe.

This windfall is a blessing, I'm grateful. But with it comes change, and change stresses me ... Mo Money Mo Problems