The View from the Trenches and The Mea Maxima Culpa email

Greetings all ~

The last few years have been an exercise in making a dollar act like ten. Sometimes, I've been successful; sometimes, not. The past year has been especially fascinating (code for crappy). I'm always interested to read that the recession was over in June of this year. Really? Mmmmm ~ maybe it is for those who get paid every two weeks but for those us lying on the bottom of the trench looking up? Not so much.

Last week, I was forced to send out a mass email to friends I've not spoken with for ages. Nothing like a mass email to convey that personal touch. The gist was:

First, like Chelsea Clinton said today in her engagement email, please forgive the mass email. Unlike Chelsea, I’m not engaged (I think you need to go out to get engaged) but I’ve got so many people to beg forgiveness from that this seems the best plan. Sending out a thousand emails would take too long and the reason for my email is that I’ve been so crazy busy trying to keep my head above water that sending out a thousand emails seems counterproductive.

So, here’s the deal, please forgive me.

My life for the last year has very been difficult. The melt-down in the financial markets killed all my projects last year and sent me scrambling. My hair may not have been on fire but it was definitely smoldering. As the year wore on, I felt utterly overwhelmed. I couldn’t put one more thing on my plate. Didn’t open mail, answer phone calls or emails. Couldn’t even read them or listen to my messages. Quit Rotary. Put my head down and worked. Can’t explain it better than that.

What was going on? Well, the short story is that my Donald Trump property extravaganza on the other side of the state was in danger of exploding in flames. What kinds of things were happening? Oh, things like the roof blowing off the Victorian, my tenants deciding not to pay me so I had to evict them and sue them for back rent, the duplex at my dad’s sitting empty and costing me money every month, spending the last 8 months begging, borrowing and trading to get the duplex done so I can get renters in there and save it, oh and, my heart was beating 165 beats a minute and there was the whole three trips to the emergency room and hospital stay. Whaddahyah think? Stress? And, that doesn’t even count the things that were happening here at home which while not as bad were certainly attention getting.

The good thing is the boys are happy and healthy. The grands are both lovely, healthy and happy. The world's best dog is healthy and happy. Billy the cat did die suddenly in October but Clark the cat who had been gone for five months came back weighing 20 pounds so I guess he’s been healthy and happy as well.

So, I’m sorry I’ve been such a bad friend and hard to get in touch with. Please forgive me. I’m hoping the New Year will be less frantic and I’m able to hob and nob with you. I hope you will forgive me this year and we can begin again.