Anonymous wrote:I feel self-conscious but getting used to it. We went from having a modest but nice life in DC. Definitely nothing special by DCUM standards.
Then we relocated without jobs to a flyover state---long story---and financially fell on our faces. Thankfully, we had 100k in cash to tide us over but we ended up living in poverty. We lived a tiny home, in a crime-ridden neighborhood for what ended up being five years.
Meanwhile, we hashed out a plan to rebuild. We kept at it and built back our lifestyle better than it was before in DC. And this time, I'm a SAHM now, so now it's on one income.
Acquaintances we aren't that close with don't understand how we went from a run-down neighborhood to a huge house in one of the nicest neighborhoods. They start to ask "how" but stop themselves because it's awkward. And we are embarrassed to tell our new neighbors where we used to live because we don't want to get into that conversation.
Our friends in our new city are happy for us but it's kind of weird for them to see the dramatic change. We went from being the brokest to being pretty comfortable on one income. Multiple neighbors we were friends with in our old neighborhood told us they were envious we were "getting out of here," and they wished they could too so those friendships just kind of died.
I come from poverty so it's a little weird with my parents. It took my mom the better part of a year to say she was happy for me and it was a strange conversation. And my dad who lives several states looked up our house on Google maps one day. He called just to say "That's a nice-frickin' house! And that neighborhood is so beautiful. I'm jealous!" I was pretty embarrassed but I knew he was congratulating us.
Thankfully, my siblings and my one of husband's siblings were already living in this income bracket, so they are just like "hey, good for you guys!"
Long story short, it's been a year and I still haven't sent out "Hey, we moved announcements!" It's just too weird.
And I'm nervous, I just pray we don't ever go through losing it all again someday!
If you can get over your embarrassment, you should consider doing a TED Talk. If this is true, you managed something that most people don't, and therefore there's a lot that people can learn from your experience.
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