My Attitude of Gratitude
So I guess while I’m whining about cashing out my 401K to buy my house – #firstorsecondworldproblem – these two things scrolled across my screen:
1) The Dow Jones industrial average hit a new milestone Tuesday, closing above the 15,000 mark for the first time in its 117-year history.
2) MP (Facebook)
3 hours ago near New Orleans
Wow. in the past five years, I’ve paid out nearly $150,000 to the bank for my mortgage and only $15,000 of that has gone to the principal balance. Makes me feel really good to give the bank $135,000 for doing essentially nothing but updating my monthly statements. I fully realize that “that’s just how a mortgage works”, but if the Senate and House weren’t full of former and future bankers who go to work on the boards of these banks when they are done “serving the people” the laws would be very different. Yeah, it’s Capitalism and everyone needs to make a buck, but when only 10% of what I’m paying is going to actually paying off a loan, that seems a bit extreme.
Read: Bucking the trend, I have made the right decision at the right time.
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Today, I went to Canal Street Bistro to meet a friend for lunch who I see once a year. We had just sat down, and she said, “So how are you handling being bald?” And a very, very cute waiter (not ours) with long dreadlocks came over to the table and said to me, “You are beautiful.”
I said, “Uh, like that!”
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Rejoice Rejoice Rejoice
And keep that attitude of gratitude!