And Then It Happened

Seeing the lights of the oncoming train that is the Great Depression of this century, we recently got out all of the financial paperwork stuff we really didn't want to have to go through. I liken it to cleaning out all the junk in the basement versus waiting for your heirs to have to do it when you're gone. So we looked at how much we owe on the house and what would happen if a mortgage company demanded it be paid in full - can they do that? And then, what about our cars? Can they demand they be paid off in full too? Is there any way we could make that happen? What about Christmas? So it was a calm but panicked mode.

And then...it happened. What about the kids' college funds? Having been a single mom for a number of years, I could not afford a state plan, even with those small monthly payments. Ford Man was not aware of what few little things I had set aside for the two older kids. There were bank stock investments for Thing 1 and Thing 2 that at one time, were about triple what the initial investment was. We looked at the bank stock this weekend and it is not even worth half of the initial investment. What do I do? Do I take it out or keep it there and if so, what if the bank gets bought out and is the stock investment even any good then? Will they tell me the truth if I call them? We're talking about up to a term or two at a state college - not as big as it sounds, but big to us.

Then there's the small investment I put aside when I sold the old house (after I divorced Thing 1 and Thing 2's dad). It's still really small but it looks like it is safe. It will buy their books for one term, maybe two.

Combined with this, Thing 1 won a $1,000 savings bond from Kraft (thank you) when he was small. Is that any good? Is it maturing slower now? I mean, who's going to back ANY OF THIS STUFF UP? The FDIC? What happens if the FDIC goes under?

So, I cannot stress to the kids how important making good grades is at this time. While I'm praying for some sort of miracle to happen, I am also realistic. Praying for a miracle is what happened when all those folks got their dream home, couldn't afford it long-term, the banks and the insurance companies realized they couldn't back it all up and now I'm (excuse me, WE are) having to pay the consequences.

All this adds up to what I'm sure you guys are feeling too. But I'm older than most of my friends and I can tell you that this is a sickening feeling, having kids that want to go to college and not knowing how they could get there - literally, especially if we can't even buy gas in our state to physically get them to college.