the Luckiest

I have recently found myself in the odd position defending my lifestyle to strangers. (Not that lifestyle-that's an ongoing process started a decade ago, and will follow me to my grave.) Rather, the act of being a modern-day irregular.

With today's economic crisis, people struggling to find jobs, pay their Johnson County mortgages, and keep the tanks of their s.u.v.'s filled, I realized I am in the proud position of my single greatest asset-knowing how to do "poor" well.

My parents were my first instructors in this phenomenon. As a child, my Dad and Mom were Nazarene Ministers, and, I rarely realized we lacked for anything. Unconditional Love is a wonderful insulation against bruised egos and damaged feelings. Even with higher-paying jobs and better benefits now, they still live as they did when I was growing up. When you don't crave the newest, the shiniest, the most fleeting material things, it becomes supremely easy to live well.

In this time of our nation, when scaling back, cutting corners, "making ends meet", is the norm for a vast majority of Americans, I am the luckiest. I live a beautiful life, a life that remains relatively unchanged by fiscal struggles. I don't seek the new and expensive, but rather embrace the time-worn and tried. Chestnut House is the perfect example...I am lucky enough to be partnered with Ron, someone who actually enjoys growing vegetables and blackberries in a little side-garden on the west side of the tower, who knows how to "stretch" meals with a little bacon grease and ingenuity, who can zone-heat a 3000' house with space heaters better than anyone I know.

I used to crave a "normal" life...a "grass is greener" mentality- 9 to 5, shared cubicle walls, BMW, the works. But, as I matured, so did my thoughts on "things". I find more joy in watching our primrose bloom, or the fall bulbs peeking out near the porch, or Atticus chasing an invisible specter around the side yard, than I do watching television. My whole life is presented in HD with Surround Sound...no commercial interruptions! When you have nothing to lose...when you realize what's truly important...when your friendships and family are your most treasured possessions...when you get your satisfaction from what you do rather how much you make...that is the truest wealth, and I am a wealthy man.

Until next week-

Jon (and Ron and Atticus)