In Case of Financial Crisis, Go Shopping...

October 6th, 2008

Today we bought a kitchen. You’ll recall we’re remodeling our apartment and we went with the architects to purchase the things to furnish the kitchen. We bought Fagor appliances, a Spanish brand. I had never heard of them. All of the things we're buying for the house are different than they are at home, in the states. The shapes are different. The names and finishes are different. The price isn’t any different. That’s the only thing that’s the same. Between the stove top, oven, microwave, flooring for the bathroom, sink, faucets for the kitchen, washer and dryer, dishwasher and hood I spent a great deal of money.

When we were done we were exhausted but we set another date with the architects to go for granite on Friday. We really want to get the space finished before Christmas so we can move in and stop paying rent. That’s the one cool thing about paying cash for a house. When it’s ready, you just move in and live there, and that’s it. It’s paid for. That will be a new experience. No rent. No mortgage.

It has been 3 months since we arrived in Buenos Aires and we are no closer to finding a professional space than we were when we got here. We look at every opportunity though and trust that we'll find what is right soon. I wish we had one and were getting it ready to open. I am also glad in this moment not to be doing both things at the same time. We are pushing through our work with the remodel of our house so that when Don arrives in a few weeks and we are closer to getting down to business we’ll be free to concentrate on that.

As all of this happens around me I am holding in my mind constantly the situation in the US. The place we’re from, where my money still lives, is in the midst of an economic crisis of reportedly massive proportions. Still, mostly, I am not scared. Jimmy and I are moving ahead with our plan because, well, because really we have no other choice, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. I simply mean that what other choice do any of us have? We are here on Earth and it is our duty to ourselves, to our families and communities, even to the Universe, to get up every day and step up to what is in front of us. It is our duty to march, unceasingly, in the direction of our dreams and to hold firm to our course no matter how the wind blows. And the wind will blow. And it will cease to blow. And we will still be here. So I ask myself, “Annie?” I say, “what if there's a depression, or even a recession, in the States, or here?” And the answer I give myself is that whatever there is I have no choice but to carry on. What would I do if there was a depression? Would I wait to begin my life? For how long? Until it ends? How would I know when it ended? How would I know when it was time to resume living? What else would I do with my money anyway? Where would it be safe? I don’t believe there is any use in trying to figure that out. I have no guarantee I’ll even be here when whatever I might be waiting for happens.

I have a few friends here from the US who are nervous. They are fearful about stocks, either because they have actually lost money or may soon. I understand how they feel. Sometimes I have moments when I think about what would happen if all my money disappeared in an instant. Then I put that thought aside because that isn’t happening and I am busy with what is happening. When tomorrow comes, and the next day, I’ll deal with what is in front of me at that time. For now, I have moved to South America, to Buenos Aires Argentina to start a business and become a part of a new community. That’s what I intend to do, until the Universe lets me know that there is a new path for me to follow. It feels good to get up every day with a plan. It feels good to be doing something in service of our long term goal. It feels good to be doing something.