I would be delusional to say that we are not living in tough economic times. Of course, some of us are more touched by the financial crisis than others. I see neighbors who don’t seem to be affected at all. I see others who are being hit hard. A house only a couple of blocks from where I live is in foreclosure. Who would have guessed?
You see, I live in an old neighborhood. Not only are about half of us old, but half the houses are even older. I would guess that over half the houses on our ridge are over 50 years old, quite a few being 100 years old. Now that I think about it, the population is approaching that divide. No, none of us have hit 100 but several households are housing family members in their late 70′s, more and more are in their 80′s and we do have a few active seniors in their nineties.
So, most of the houses in our neighborhood are owned outright, no mortgages. But, as we die off new younger families buy up our old houses. I guess the unknown neighbors who bought the house that is now in foreclosure bought the big old civil war structure with great plans of updating the house and living there until they got old. They bought when the prices were peaking. I don’t know the details but the family moved away one day and the house is now in foreclosure.
That got a few of us to thinking. We didn’t really know the family except to offer a casual wave when they drove past. I think maybe we should have made a better effort to know the family, but like so many neighborhoods we are all busy with our own interests that sometimes we forget to reach out.
Maybe Happy took the vanishing neighbors more seriously than most. Of course, Happy has a bigger heart than most. Anyway, Happy asked me to take a ride with her downtown today. She had to pay her property taxes. I have no idea why she didn’t mail them like everyone else. But, on the way back Happy said she wanted to ride down a particular street.
Now, I have to tell you I was shocked. There is a little wooded area off the road that was filled with about 12 tents. Well, yes… 12 tents. I counted them. I had heard that some homeless people lived in tents in our town. They call that home. I expected to see older dirty people with unkept hair. But, in the midst of the people sitting in front of tent openings I saw two children and a woman. Happy pulled the car over and stopped.
Okay, so maybe in my old age I’m not as brave as I once was. I do lock my doors now. Anyway, Happy stopped the car and motioned for the woman to come over to the car. I wasn’t comfortable with that, to be honest. And, apparently the woman who had been sitting on a folding chair didn’t seem too comfortable with it either. One of the children hid her face as she crawled into the tent. The younger child ran to the car. Her mother followed, more to protect her child I suspect than to see what two grey haired old ladies wanted.
Before I knew what was happening, Happy was out of the car and walking toward the woman and little girl. What the heck! I got out and followed her. In my entire life I have never seen anyone so uneasy as the young mother. Of course, as I looked around at the broken beer bottles all discarded around the perimeter of the tent sites I wasn’t exactly at ease either.
Happy began talking to the woman, asking her why she was there with her children. Oh, my! Now there is nothing worse than two nosey old ladies out on a drive stopping to ask a stranger why she was living in a tent with two children. Anyway, the young woman said that she and her husband had lost their home to foreclosure. And, no… they had not bought too much house for too little money down. They had a small house but when both the mother and father lost their jobs they lost their home.
The father had gone down to a street corner early this morning to stand there with a group of homeless men that try to pick up odd jobs during the day. In fact, the father had been a construction worker… until construction stopped. The mother had worked in a small factory that had closed within the past few months.
I have to say that for all the news reports, none of us really expect to see so much reality in our own little towns. Well, it’s here. I won’t go into more detail. It still breaks my heart to even think about those who have so much less than we do. But, what can we do? Happy offered the woman forty dollars for food.
We were driving up the ridge on our way home when we spotted Mrs. Hildebrand and Miss Bessie sitting on the front porch. Happy turned into the drive. She told the story to the two older women. Then, one of those really heartwarming life events happened.
Mrs. Hildebrand looked at Miss Bessie and reminded her that Miss Bessie’s house is empty. The men in the neighborhood and the kids have completed the remodeling. The water and electric is turned on. Miss Bessie is still staying at Mrs. Hildebrand’s and probably will until one of them dies. They are that close.
Miss Bessie said that the tent family could live in her old house if they could pay the electric and water. Well, maybe they can. The electric is next to nothing with the new solar panels. Of course, Miss Bessie suggested that the family may not want to stay in her house because the house is in a black community. Well, according to Happy it wouldn’t hurt to ask.
I had to get home to my family. I was already running later than I expected and the sitter was surely getting anxious. But, Happy called me just an hour or so ago. She and some of the neighboring men had rounded up the distressed family, moved them into Miss Bessie’s house late this afternoon, and left them in the care of their new neighbors.
You see, the community garden is starting to get a little prepartion going in Miss Bessie’s neighborhood. And, the neighbors have learned to work together for the good of the neighborhood. Apparently, they welcomed the family with open arms and a big pot luck dinner. Some of the older kids from our neighborhood were working in the community garden when the family arrived so they did lots of introductions.
Anyway, I am thankful for people like Happy… people who care about people. And, I’m thankful for Miss Bessie who doesn’t mind at all letting strangers live in her house for a while. Of course, Miss Bessie reminded everyone of the day we discovered her in her house when she was so ill and so hungry.
When I look back over the past year and a half, I am proud of our neighbors and our neighborhood kids. It feels good to have a little part in making a difference in someone’s life. I just hope the new family likes gardening. It’s about that time of year and with food prices so high, the community garden could be a real blessing for them. We will see. But, for today I am so thankful that two little girls who were homeless this morning now have a roof over their heads tonight.
