Stumble it!

Down and Out in New Hampshire

Last week, as I was driving down the Spaulding Turnpike from my home in Rochester, NH to my job as computer support technician in Dover, NH – I was mulling over the argument I’d had with my wife the night before. We received a notice this week in the mail from our Mortgage company that because we’ve been delinquent on so many mortgage payments, and because we’ve ignored their last three notices regarding late payment – if we didn’t pay the delinquent balance in full they would begin the process of foreclosure.

It hit us like a ton of bricks. I’d never imagined that things would get so bad that we’d be faced with the “F” word. But here we are. Then there are the credit cards. We haven’t been able to pay those in six months, and the collection agencies have started circling. We received four phone calls this week alone. We’re behind two car payments, one month late on three utility bills, and if my wife doesn’t find a job soon – we’ll probably be on this road straight through to the final chapter where we lose our home.

We’ve got a lot to lose – this is our home, it’s a beautiful townhouse:

It’s not huge – but it’s everything we need with our two children, who are 6 and 8. Three bedrooms, one and a half bath…but we qualified for the mortgage and bought it before my wife lost her job as a court stenographer. Now half of our income is gone.

As though the stakes aren’t already high enough, if I can’t maintain our car payments – the bank has warned me that I’m going to lose the car. It’s my only means of transportation to work – my 2006 Mazda 6.

It’s the only really nice thing I ever bought myself. That was two years ago. Now I wish I’d never bought it.

However today, driving to work and sipping on my coffee – I realized that regardless of how difficult it is right now…there are people out there in the same boat. My wife and I have been in difficult times before – never this serious, but certainly just as difficult. We were always able to pull through. We were able to do it through ingenuity and planning. We are probably “poor” at the moment – but we aren’t “poor”-thinking. My wife has a master’s degree in English, and I have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Certainly we have the brainpower to get through this?

I am offering these entries as a testament to my confidence that we will make it. One obstacle at a time – we will make it. And I will report our status along the way.

Our goals right now are basic survival:

Save our house.
Save my transportation to work.
Stop the collection agents from harassing us
Make sure our children are happy, no matter what.
We will make it out of this – and not only that, I will go a step further and say that I believe we will become wealthy. I know we can do it – I believe in my wife, and I believe in myself.

First order of business, in my next entry, will be to tackle our budget – and then to “take on” the mortgage company. Not sure where this road will lead…but as the famous American psychologist and philosopher William James once wrote:

“Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.”

I can accept it…now the next step is the long and difficult road. I welcome everyone to come along with us on this journey. May the consequences be kind, and may our successes be great.

The saga of Jack’s family ( to be continued)