A Prayer For Uisdean Ruadh And A Reality Check

Readers of this blog will undoubtedly recall the name Uisdean Ruadh, my long time (35+ year) friend from high school.  He has remained - along with The Actor - one of the two people with whom I regularly keep in contact with from high school.  We have our traditions now - every time I am back in Old Home we have dinner, a walk, and frozen yogurt.  He also remains really the only person I regularly have phone conversations with on my "smart" phone.

Checking in with him last night, he relayed to me two unfortunate pieces of news.  The first was that he had received an eviction notice from his landlord - apparently given the current market, the landlord has decided to upgrade the apartment and sell.  The second was that his mother had also received an eviction notice for the same reason.  They both have 90 days.

A Mhathair na hUisdean Ruadh's (his mother) is in her 90's at this point, born even before the Great Depression (and may likely outlive us all at this point).  This is the place she has lived for almost 45 years.  Uisdean Ruadh has lived in his apartment for the last 15 years.  In both cases, it is very much like they are leaving a family home.

As you can imagine of course, he is freaking out more than a little bit.

His solution at this point, given the situation, is to find an apartment for both himself and his mother.  His mother's property manager, a long time acquaintance, feels that she can find something for them that will fit the bill.   He has started the process of securing a storage locker and packing up his things, after which he will begin the same process at his mother's house.  Fortunately he is well plugged into his church (he is a Catholic, as you may recall) and has many offers of assistance for when the day comes.  His life, of course, has essentially been put on hold and his future has compressed to three months consisting of three things:  1)  Find an apartment.  2)  Move.  3) Move Mhathair na hUisdean Ruadh.

One of the shocks he related was the fact that looking at rent amounts in Old Home.   In his case (and mine, it is my hometown) is that it has become "a desirable place to live" and thus home prices and rents have gone through the roof - he will likely pay there what is close to our mortgage here.  And of course since they have been renting for many years their rents were relatively below market price so the increase is a second shock - fortunately he is able to work from home, or else this would be a far different situation (especially now, given the current fuel situation).

It is easy enough to say, I suppose, that if he had differing living arrangements this would be a different story.  That is possibly true, but in point of fact most people are effectively "renting" their living space - for most it is from the bank rather than a third party landlord, but the results are effectively the same.  Things happen.  And having been through a job loss once, I can assure you a bank has even less pity than a landlord might.  It will take longer perhaps, but the end result will be the same.

It was a harsh reality check for him. It is a harsh reality check for me as well.

In point of fact, most of us - many of us? - are really only one bad event away from having this sort of life-changing event occur.  In our case, we are doing very well now and have savings - but a significant job loss or other catastrophic event (a health crisis, for example) would put us in exactly the same sort of situation - we might have a little more time to get there than fixed 90 days, but we would get there.  And in the process of getting there, we would suddenly have a houseful of things that we would need to decide what to do with:  Store them?  Sell them?  If downsizing, what stays and what goes?

It has certainly given me a lot to think about.

If you could keep him and his mother in your prayers, I am sure they would very much appreciate it - specifically that they are able to find a place within their budget and they are able to move out within the 90 day period.  And especially for him as well:  I am sure that moving back in with one's parents after 40+ years of not living together will be a huge adjustment.

Before we left the call last night, he said "I really think that God has decided that my focus needs to be on caring for my mother at this point.  He has just made the decision easier."  Would that we all had that kind of faith and clarity.